


Fuck You

by SIFoote (TheMayWaters)



Series: Soulmates Omegaverse [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alpha Kuroo, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Heartbreak, I have plans to hurt you with this story, M/M, Omega Verse, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Soulmates AU, True Mates, here you go, high school/university universe, omega tsukishima, oops i did it again, spoilers for the most recent manga chapters, tsukishima has a hard time dealing with emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-23 21:02:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 46,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21326629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMayWaters/pseuds/SIFoote
Summary: A/B/O Dynamics. Soulmates. Alpha and Omega present on their sixteenth birthday at some point during the day. Betas have nothing happen on that day—it’s their most disappointing birthday. Of course, Tsukishima had to be different. He supposed it was a sign he was meant to be with the alpha on the opposite side of the net from him. All because the fucking asshole captain went into rut, Tsukishima presented five months too early.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Yamamoto Taketora, Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Series: Soulmates Omegaverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1537459
Comments: 504
Kudos: 897
Collections: Tsukki x Kuroo, shit I read that gives me a serotonin boost





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Mama mia, here we go again.

Tsukishima liked the days before he presented. There were no dizzying smells and everything was normal in the world. He had to read body language to tell how a person was feeling. Since he didn’t care, it made it easier to ignore those around him.

Then he presented.

Five months early.

Takeda Ittetsu, the club advisor, arranged a practice match against Nekoma—which was fine for their golden week training camp—until it wasn’t. Their opposing team had a total of two omegas. Karasuno had two with the potential of more in their young first year pool. On the plus side, Karasuno also outnumbered them with alpha.

Yet, they couldn’t take a set off Nekoma. Their defense was too high for Karasuno’s offense. Sugawara Kōshi and Nishinoya Yū acted strange all day since Nekoma arrived. A moment later, Tsukishima knew why. The captain was going into rut and the blond’s body reacted against his will.

“I have medication to delay,” Kuroo Tetsurō gasped. He reached across the gym for his bag and Kozume Kenma jumped to grab it.

Tsukishima gasped as the room swelled with the smell of Juniper, but there was also underlying tones of Jalapeño, Rain, Basil, Pecan, Marigold, Motor Oil, Peaches, and Mango. His body felt feverish and his knees hit the gymnasium floor.

Marigold wrapped around him and pulled him back across the room behind a wall of growing alpha animosity.

“Tsukishima.” Suga cooed. Nishinoya’s hand landed on his forehead.

A high keening wine broke across the gymnasium and Kei’s body jolted. It was the sound of a soft mating call—but all the alpha turned away as if warned by the sound; the opposite of the omega’s reactions in the room.

“Yamaguchi, when is his birthday?” Suga called with a breathless voice to the unpresented teenager who rushed to his friend’s side.

“September twenty-seventh.”

“Soulmates.” Noya breathed deeply through his nose, pupils blown wide.

“Ennoshita, help us get him home.” Suga and Yamaguchi helped the blond stand while Nekoma held back their captain from charging across the room. Kenma pressed a couple pills into the alpha’s mouth against his will—probably the only omega that could risk getting his fingers bitten off.

Both sets of coaches and advisors apologized profusely for the trouble. Kenma and Yamamoto Taketora were sent back to Tokyo early with Kuroo to keep an eye on him.

* * *

Kuroo had his eyes closed on the train, but he wasn’t asleep as his companions assumed. He knew his rut was on its way before the golden week training camp, but he didn’t want to miss on the opportunity to travel outside the prefecture. There was only so much of their alliance teams that he could take. He thought he would be fine with the pills; the last thing he expected was to find his soulmate in a different prefecture—let alone one that appeared to be a first year. Kuroo heard their whispers across the gym and understood their panic behind someone presenting five months early, it was hard enough presenting on his birthday.

“Kenma, you guys live close, do you help him through his ruts?” Yamamoto asked quietly on the train.

“No,” the omega’s game made a soft noise to indicate his success on a particular level. “We’re next door neighbors, so I’ll make sure he gets home okay.”

“You guys always scent mark, so I thought you were closer.”

“I think our parents wanted us to, but apparently his soulmate is on Karasuno. If we did anything like that now, it’d be inconsiderate.” He set the game down audibly in his lap. “I’ve never looked at Kuro that way, though. He smells nice, but it never smelled right to me. I’m fine with Kuro and I being best friends, despite secondary genders.”

“Huh,” Taketora leaned back. “You two are definitely odd ones out.”

“Kenma,” Kuroo whispered.

“Do you need more medication?” The half-blond reached for the bag at their feet.

“No, not yet. It’s just, he smelled like Strawberries.” Tetsurō rubbed a hand over his face. “They’re the most sexualized fruit, next to bananas.”

“And eggplants.” Yamamoto pitched in wisely.

“That is a vegetable.” Kenma returned to his game. “It’s good that you like his scent.”

“Why did it have to be someone that hadn’t presented yet? I feel like I stole something from him that I shouldn’t have.”

“His virginity?”

“Kenma,” Kuroo cracked one eye open to glare at the alpha with a mohawk.

“What?”

“Do me a favor and kill Yamamoto after I’m home.”

“Sure thing.”

“What did I do?” The teen wailed. The other two didn’t talk to him the rest of the ride back to Tokyo.

* * *

There was a persistent itch under Tsukishima’s skin and he was freezing cold. He wanted warmth and when the omegas, Yamaguchi, and Ennoshita took him home, he dove head first into the blankets on his bed. The other omegas helped gather blankets from the linen closet and hoard pillows from the couches. The two out of the loop watched in surprise as the tall blond was taken over by lust. He wrapped himself in his blankets in an effort to get warm and wiggled against the bed in desperation to get himself off.

“What’s Tsukki doing?” Yamaguchi whispered hoarsely.

“Have you guys not covered this in class yet?” Nishinoya looked up at him and the freckled teen shook his head. “Tsukishima presented as an omega and he’s in heat. During our heat we crave the warm presence of an alpha, but he doesn’t have one, so he simulates it with the blankets. He’ll be desperate for relief.”

At the confused look on the younger’s face, Ennoshita leaned over to whisper, “masturbating”. Tadashi flushed all kinds of colors, surprised that the Beta remembered the information.

“Kuroo won’t be in a much better state once the medication wears off.” Sugawara pushed himself away from the bed. “Yamaguchi, do you have contact information for his family?”

“I don’t have anything for his parents, but I have his brother’s number. He’s a beta though.”

“That’s okay, he should still be able to place an order for omega medication. It’d be a good idea to ask him to get a compatible birth control to go with it as well, just in case.”

“I’ll go call him,” he stepped into the hall and with shaky hands he searched through his phone for Akiteru’s number. He was a few cities away for University, but he hoped that the adult would be able to set a few responsibilities aside for his little brother—at least until his parents were in the know about the situation.

“Yamaguchi, why are you calling me?” Akiteru greeted jovially.

“A visiting Alpha at our school earlier today went into rut and Tsukki presented as an Omega.”

“Shit,” it was rare for the older man to swear around Yamaguchi. “I’m on my way, now, I just got out of class. What do I need to pick up from the pharmacy on my way?”

Tadashi relayed the information he received previously from Suga and double checked with the others in the room about what he may need. Akiteru volunteered to pick up some new blankets and sheets made for heats as well as inconspicuous toys sold at a konbini behind the counter. With his face flushed red, the freckled teen thanked the adult and returned to the room with the others.

“Akiteru-nii-san is on his way. He’s picking up things he thinks Tsukki will need.”

“Good.” Suga opened the bedroom door. “Do you know if they have water bottle’s stored around the house? We’ll need as many as we can get.”

* * *

A week later Sawamura Daichi received a text from Kuroo asking him to apologize to Tsukishima for him since he couldn’t do it in person. Tsukishima, back from his first heat, refused to acknowledge the apology. He heard that Kuroo made a trip up on a weekend to apologize in person at their weekend practice, but a family emergency kept Kei from attending that practice. Yamaguchi encouraged him to forgive the alpha, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for someone that forced him to present five months early. Especially when he found he liked being an omega.

“So, as you’ve heard we’re going to Tokyo for a couple training camps this summer with a few schools, including Nekoma, who we played before. It’s a great opportunity, but I heard the camp will be full of a lot of Alphas—something that a lot of our players aren’t used to. I want to make sure that everyone will be okay with it.”

“If it’s for volleyball, I’d do anything.” Hinata pumped his fist in the air. “I can deal with anything an alpha might throw at me.”

“I don’t think that’s what the captain meant, dumbass.” Kageyama Tobio muttered.

“The pheromones might be a bit much.” Nishinoya pursed his lips. “Practice matches are fine and matches were semi-okay, but this will be staying with mixtures of those smells in close quarters.”

“I agree with Noya, it’ll be interesting to say the least. I’m used to the alphas on our team, but there’s plenty of omegas to balance it out as well. Not all teams have that.”

“Right now, we need to focus on the teams that we’ll face before this summer before preliminaries in August. If we focus on the larger threats, we’ll never see the smaller ones coming and we could lose early on.” Takeda smiled. “Let’s all focus on getting stronger for now and look to the teams in Tokyo for assistance.”

“Well put, Sensei.” Ukai nodded.

“The first camp will be for the space of a weekend following midterms. If you fail any of the tests, you won’t be able to attend.”

“If I wasn’t concerned about my grades, I’d consider failing a test on purpose.” Tsukishima mumbled to Yamaguchi.”

“You don’t want to talk to Kuroo-san?”

“Not really.” Kei wrapped his arms protectively around his legs. “The soulmate thing is dumb anyway.”

“I always thought it was exciting.” Yamaguchi stared down at his hands. “Doesn’t matter, I’m probably a beta anyway. I’ll hang around you all the time at the camp if you don’t want to be alone with Kuroo-san.”

“Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm procrastinating updating my other stories by writing this instead. Hello!


	2. Chapter 2

The bus ride to Tokyo was longer than Tsukishima anticipated and by the end of it, he panted from heat and the overwhelming smell of Alpha pheromones that permeated the space. Without Hinata there to help balance it out—he presented on his birthday in June—the normally comforting smells of his temporary pack mates did nothing to ease the knot in his stomach. This was the first time he’d see Kuroo since April.

“It reeks,” Noya mumbled underneath his bubbling excitement. “Suga-san, can we open a window?”

“I’ll ask Ukai and Takeda. I feel like I’m going to die in here too.” The silver haired omega quickly made his way to the front of the bus and opened up the curtain partition.

“What’s the matter?” Yamaguchi leaned into his best friend.

“The pheromones coming off the team alphas are getting overbearing.”

“Oh,” he kicked his legs out in front of him. “Why?”

“Tension, probably. It’s stronger than what we put back out, but if they smell us getting anxious it raises theirs as well. Pheromones are the worst.”

“How do you know so much, Tsukki?”

“My brother bought me a book about it once I was finished with my heat. I’ve only read parts of it when I had a little bit of downtime.” Kei shifted in his seat again and didn’t mention that the book was in his bag to read at the training camp.

“It sounds interesting. I’ll probably present as a beta anyway, so it doesn’t affect me.”

“I can lend it to you once I’m done, if you want.”

“That’d be great!” Yamaguchi gave him a wide grin that made Tsukishima mildly uncomfortable.

“I’m going to try and take a nap.” He lifted the headphones around his neck to block out the noise around him, but it did nothing for the smell. In the next second he found Yamaguchi’s scarf wrapped around his face. It didn’t have a particular scent and he was more confused about why he packed the warm article of clothing for the summer, but it helped filter the smell and ease him into a nap.

* * *

The scarf was still wrapped around Tsukishima’s face when they stepped off the bus.

“Karasuno, welcome to Tokyo.”

A familiar waft of Juniper came their way, paired with the arrival of part of Nekoma, as Tsukishima removed the clothing article. His brown eyes flitted momentarily to their rival team’s captain, but he focused back easily on his task of folding the scarf.

“Yamaguchi,” he called. The shorter boy turned and felt the item be placed on his head. “Thanks.”

“No problem, Tsukki! I’m glad it helped.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kuroo part his lips to taste the air for scents, but moments later a puzzled look settled in his hazel eyes when he realized Yamaguchi didn’t have a particular scent.

“Thanks for inviting us to join you.” Daichi cut in and placed himself in front of the other captain’s line of sight. Tsukishima thanked him silently in his head as he collected his luggage.

“It’s our treat, really! You guys are a great team to play against. After all this is over, I can’t wait to face you guys at Nationals.”

“If we all make it there.” Kei mumbled low enough so that only Tadashi could hear him. The other teen gave him a dissatisfied look.

“How have you guys been over the last few months? I heard from Kenma about your loss.” Kuroo led them away to the main frame of the Fukurōdani school.

“That loss was hard on us, but we’re here to get stronger to beat them come October.” Daichi placed a hand on the other alpha’s back and helped keep him on track as they walked up the steps to the school from the small parking lot.

“Is that the Skytree?!” Nishinoya and Tanaka yelled in the background.

“That’s a normal transmission tower.” Kai Nobuyuki’s shoulders dropped and the most hideous laugh burst from Kuroo. Tsukishima’s eyes went wide and for a moment a smile split across his face.

“That reminds me, aren’t you missing a couple people?”

“They had to stay behind to retake some exams they failed.” Karasuno summed up.

“So, the power duo’s taking some supplementary exams right now?”

“Yeah… but, well…”

“Th… th… there’s two girls now!” The surprised shout from Yamamoto shocked all the players. The teen was on his knees in front of Kiyoko and Yachi, Karasuno’s managers. “An alpha one and an omega one!”

“Do you see Tora? This, is the true power of Karasuno.” Tanaka stepped in smoothly with a loud laugh.

“And he fails to mention that they are dating.” Tsukishima mumbled to Yamaguchi as they moved to the gymnasium doors.

“They’re together?” Kuroo slides into the conversation.

“It’s cute.” Tadashi blinds the alpha with a smile, while Kei takes the opportunity to slide away. Behind him, the alpha huffed at being ignored.

Kuroo turned back to the others. “When you’re ready, come to the gym. The other guys are already there.”

* * *

In the gym, they found the teams already warming up as groups. The smell of alpha pheromones overwhelmed the room and Tsukishima wished he still had Yamaguchi’s scarf. Suga had a hand clasped over his mouth; Nishinoya wobbled shakily in his steps until Asahi stepped up behind him and placed a hand on the scent glands just below his jawline. Tsukishima crinkled his nose and tried to focus on differentiating the smells. A surprisingly strong whiff of Juniper drifted his way alongside the familiar smell of jalapeño from his captain and his shoulders dropped from their tense position. He looked over at the two captains, but neither of them looked their way.

“Once we’re done with our warm ups, we’ll regroup and the teams will play each other in rotation.”

“Okay.”

“The team who loses their set will do a penalty lap of diving drills around the gym. Take a look at the match line-up over there. You should be up against Shinzen first.”

“Hey, was that guy with Nekoma the last time we had a practice match with them?” Suga was turned toward Asahi, but Tsukishima turned to pay attention to the conversation. He appeared calmer after the smell of Daichi passed over them and by standing next to Azumane, a pack mate.

“The one who’s staring at us?”

“Yeah.”

“No… I don’t think so.”

* * *

During the match against Fukurōdani , they were still mostly thrown by the cacophony of scents and were shut down by almost a ten-point difference. The alpha captain on their team, Bokuto Kōtarō casually called many of their attacks and it frustrated them to no end.

Then, as they were doing another drill for losing the game, Kageyama and Hinata showed up.

From across the gym, Tsukishima heard a statement that he was unhappy to agree with because it meant his apparent soulmate had the same feelings about the situation as he did.

“The ‘leading actors’ making a late entrance, huh? Kinda pisses me off.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips and turned to Yamaguchi for a snack and water. His friend aided him immediately and made some joke that had him telling the shorter to shut up.

* * *

As it turned out, the new member of Nekoma high was Haiba Lev, a half Russian. He hadn’t had his birthday yet, but he was slated by most of his team to be an alpha. Tsukishima sniffed the air curiously to see if he could catch an early whiff of anything on him, but he figured the teen’s birthday was too far away when he only caught the scents of those already presented in the room.

“Smell something interesting?” Kuroo popped up behind him suddenly and the smell of juniper filled his lungs and brought him more comfort than he cared to admit.

“No.” He focused on his bag and tried to think of something he could grab out of it that wouldn’t look random.

“Look, Tsukishima, I really am sorry about what happened in May. I didn’t think at all before going to the training camp—other than wanting to play volleyball.”

Kei shrugged and yanked at his tangled headphone cord under the mess. He could at least straighten it out and place it back in. Tsukishima could feel the alpha’s eyes on him, but he kept his focus purely on his meager task. After a while, Kuroo pushed away from the wall and returned to his team. Tsukishima swallowed hard and tried to push down the disappointed lump that settled in his heart that the alpha hadn’t said anything else. He didn’t care about Tetsurō, he had no reason to—but at the same time, it felt wrong to leave whatever communication they had to a few crumpled conversations.

* * *

The game against Nekoma, was tense to say the least. The coach had them on a rotation that constantly pitted Tsukishima and Kuroo against each other at the net. Even if it was a practice game, and the middle of a sporting match at that, there was no mistaking the change of both their scents as they played. Kei was familiar with the reaction, because it happened between Daichi and Suga, and Asahi and Nishinoya, during their regular practices, but he never experienced it like this.

Anytime he made his way up to the net, to block or spike, against another alpha on Nekoma’s team, Kuroo’s scent rose with under lacings of possession. His own body would tense whenever he was directly in front of Tetsurō—and despite his focus on the game, he felt like he could feel every breath on his skin. It was maddening how much he enjoyed it.

The worst moment came during a break for Karasuno when Nekoma faced off against Fukurōdani . Lev and Kenma missed a block against Bokuto and the ball hit the court and flew toward Tsukishima passing behind the game on his way across the gym. He barely heard Yamaguchi’s surprised shout in time to lift his arm and defend himself against the volleyball. It hit his arm fairly hard and he let out an unintended whimper. From the side of the court, since Kuroo was out on rotation with Yaku, the alpha let off a low and menacing growl in Bokuto’s direction.

The game froze as the two alphas stared at each other.

“Tsukishima-kun, are you alright?” Takeda fretted over him immediately.

“I’m fine, it just surprised me.” The blond loosened his posture and continued his trek back to the Karasuno watching side of the gym.

Nekomata clapped to get his team’s attention and yelled at Kenma for running away from the block. At a prompt from Akaashi, Bokuto lowered his head as a sign of submission to Kuroo, then turned to his team to get them pumped up for another rally.

“Hey,” Kenma interrupted Kuroo’s careful watch of Tsukishima across the gym. “I highly doubt he likes stuff like that, try to keep it down. Especially when we’re playing against them.”

“I’m trying, really Kenma. I actually wanted to do a hundred different things in that moment. The growl was what I couldn’t control.” He placed his hand on the omega’s head. “Stop running away from Bokuto’s spikes. You’ll be fine.”

Kenma pouted, but preened a little when Kuroo scented him softly with the gland on his wrist. Kozume was like a pseudo little brother to him since he moved in next door and he spent most days making sure the omega was still alive and kicking.

“Having a hard time with all the alphas?”

“A little, but that’s what every omega says. Even Yaku had a hard time—he doesn’t show it, though.”

“Yeah, I scented him this morning, along with Yamamoto.”

“Kenma, get back on the court.” Nekomata shouted and Kozume turned away with an annoyed expression on his face. Both of them missed the annoyance and disappointment which crossed Tsukishima’s face. Yamaguchi didn’t.

* * *

“Tsukki, are you okay?” Tadashi asked on their way home the next day.

“I’m fine.”

“But Kuroo-san—”

“Scented another omega. It’s none of my business. He lives in Tokyo. He probably had a relationship going before May. Kozume-san was the only one who could get close to him in the gym that day. I should’ve expected it from the beginning.”

“But, he’s your soulmate.”

“Who gives a flying fuck about that when he already has someone he wants to mate with. They’re closer, anyway, living in the same city and going to the same school. I don’t know what you were expecting Yamaguchi, but I never wanted this from the start.”

“Okay.” They remained quiet for the rest of the ride. Nishinoya and Suga, who were still awake to hear the conversation, exchanged a meaningful glance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how much of this show I had to rewatch and reread to get all this stuff right. Then I found inconsistent dates and just about had a mental breakdown. *cries*


	3. Chapter 3

A couple weeks later, they returned to Tokyo, but this time a different hosting high school. Their things were set up in an empty classroom, there were baths on campus, and they had several gymnasiums at their disposal.

“Why the fuck is the penalty running up a hill?” Tsukishima complained under his breath on their way back into the gym.

“It’ll help us with stamina!” Yamaguchi provided happily.

“We’ll be the only ones running the stupid thing.”

“You damn fish lips!” One of the guys from Shinzen insulted the other team.

“Broccoli head.”

“Hey, stop it, that’s an insult to the food!” Kuroo called across the gym. Tsukishima bit his tongue to erase the smile that twitched at his cheeks.

* * *

“Let’s borrow Ukai-san’s iPad for a bit and get another look at that video of the synchronized attack!” Daichi offered once practice was over.

“I’ll go work on hitting serves. I still have a long way to go.” Asahi broke off from the group.

Yamaguchi jumped at the mention of serves and headed excitedly for the gym.

“Tsukki! I’m gonna work on my serves now, but what are you—”

“I’m going to take a bath and go to bed.”

“I see, ummm,” Yamaguchi scratched at the side of his face.

“What?”

“I just thought you might… practice something on your own too, so…”

“I’m practicing enough to be sick of it already. I certainly hope you aren’t saying I should work ‘till I drop.”

“You’ve got a point, but…”

Tsukishima left the gym and started his trek back to the classrooms that were set up for Karasuno’s use. As he passed the third gymnasium, a familiar voice called out to him, but in an unattached way and it surprised him.

“You over there, wait a sec! The Karasuno guy! With the glasses! Could you come block for us for a bit?”

Kei was surprised to find Kuroo and Bokuto starting at him with serious expressions on their faces. Kuroo didn’t even look like he cared that it was Tsukishima he just called out to and a small sting pricked at his heart.

“I’m already done for today, so please excuse me.” He bowed and turned away from the door.

“What?” It was the most emotional response he heard from the alpha in a long time—almost like his words had hurt the other too.

“There’s no point in practicing spikes if you’ve got no on to block them. C’mon, help me out here.” Bokuto argued. The smell of driftwood increased and Tsukishima was surprised at the pleasantness of the smell.

“Why me? Ask someone from Fukurōdani .”

“Bokuto-san’s spiking practice is endless, so everyone escapes as quickly as possible.” Akaashi appeared in the doorway behind them, and with him came the soft smell of clementine.

“And I’m training this guy, so I can’t.” Kuroo pointed at a collapsed Lev on the floor.

“But I said I’d block for you!” The lanky teenager whined.

“Shut it. If you want to be a Nekoma regular, you’ll get those receives to a higher level first.” Tetsurō turned back to Bokuto. “He might not look it, but this guy is one of the top five spikers in the country, so it’d be useful to practice with him.”

“He just missed being in the top three, though.” Akaashi put in helpfully with a soft smile on his lips.

“Don’t mind.”

“Don’t boost me up to knock me down!” Bokuto swung a joking fist at the other alpha.

Kuroo turned his gaze on Tsukishima and there was something sinful about the taunting expression that took over the alpha. Kei felt his body react with a little lust which was not warranted.

“Also, if you’re a middle blocker, should you practice blocking a little more?”

Annoyance took over the omega’s body and before he could full process the situation, he moved toward the gym entrance. He’d show the stupid alpha that he was just fine without practicing.

His plans fell through. He couldn’t block Bokuto’s spikes and he felt like the alpha won his petty argument. Tsukishima did need more practice and it pissed him off.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Kōtarō’s cheers echoed around the gym.

“You only won against one single blocker, y’know.” Akaashi berated the alpha.

“Shut up!”

Tsukishima found himself hunched over with exhaustion. He hated this. Everything in the room messed with his head. The worst was the scent of juniper that coiled around him like it wanted to ease his mind. In the next moment, Kuroo stepped up next to him, but didn’t so much as look at him.

“Then how about you try it with two?”

Kei looked the alpha up and down before he turned back to Lev where he was passed out in a pool of sweat on the gym floor. _Is he dead?_

Bokuto’s shout and a change to the alpha’s smell pulled him back to the practice. It was as if Kuroo’s goal was to attract him and say: _Pay attention to me_.

“Make sure you close him out enough to prevent a straight.” Kuroo told him as Bokuto threw the ball in the air for Akaashi to serve.

In the next moment, Kuroo swung his arms in time to block the spike that the other alpha planned to send through on a cross.

“Yay!” Tetsurō cheered.

“Dammit!” Bokuto took a step back from the net. “Y’know, it’s just like I thought, Megane-kun. You’re good at the ‘reading’ part, but your blocks sure are weak. I’d be worried about breaking my arm or something like that. You’ve gotta stop the ball with a BAM!”

Annoyance settled in the pit of Tsukishima’s stomach and his ‘holier than thou’ personality bubbled to the surface. “I’m still young and developing, you see. My physical strength and height still have a way to go.”

“If you say such easy-going things, _that shorty_ will take all the good parts for himself. You play the same position, don’t you?” Kuroo slid into his peripheral vision with the same look on his face that made Tsukishima enter the gym. This time it had the opposite effect.

Tsukishima was deathly quiet and the only movement was the forward step of Akaashi to check on his fellow omega. There was a light scent of distress hitting the air. Kei whirled around and plastered a fake smile on his face. “That’s just plan unavoidable, isn’t it? Hinata’s innate abilities and mine are completely different, after all.”

The three stared at him in surprise, but before they could say anything, a few of the Nekoma team members crashed into the gym.

“Ah! You’re still practicing spikes?! Can I block? I’ll block!” Inuoka bounded into the room.

“C’mon, Lev, no lying around, get to those receives.” Yaku berated.

“It seems I’ve been relieved of duty, then. If you’ll excuse me.”

“Hey, hold on,” Kuroo reached out for the omega, but he was already gone through the door.

“Looks like you stepped on a landmine, huh, Kuroo-san?” Akaashi actively changed his scent and demeanor to be more comforting.

“You made him mad.” Bokuto provided which only went straight to the alpha’s heart and jabbed into two. “What a blunder, provocation expert Kuroo-kun.”

“I mean, who’d have thought?”

“Thought what?”

“Well, that Karasuno shorty is a menace and I don’t really know much about him, but he’s green when it comes to technique and experience. There’s his height, too. To think that, Megane-kun, who has both height and brains, wouldn’t view shorty as his equal, but as someone he can’t match.”

* * *

Tsukishima was almost back to the sleeping quarters when he realized he forgot his knee braces. He headed back to the first gym and watched in distress as his fellow teammates put in extra practice ‘till they were sweating messes.

“It’s just a club, you know.” _Why are you putting in so much effort? All that hard work,_ “will only make you suffer later.”

* * *

The next day, Kuroo watched from the side as Tsukishima was teased by the other omegas on his team. The omega clearly didn’t want to put any extra effort into his practice and it frustrated him to no end. Tetsurō knew Tsukishima was better than he played off, but he didn’t show any of it on or off the court. The alpha sucked at his teeth and tried to think of a way he could help his soulmate, but not antagonize him. It would only be detrimental to his goals.

On the watermelon break interval, he watched the omega leave the group outside behind and stepped up to Daichi.

“Er, sorry.”

“For what?”

“I might’ve offended that Megane-kun you’ve got on your team yesterday.”

“What?”

He relayed the story and sat with them on the grassy hill.

“Huh! To think Tsukishima ended up doing an independent practice with you guys. So, you said something to him?”

“I said he’d end up losing to that shorty on your team, to provoke him.”

“There have definitely been times when Tsukishima’s come across as feeling inferior to Hinata.” Asahi pitched in.

“Oh, I dunno if it’s related or not, but my sister asked me about Tsukishima the other day and wondered if he had an older brother. Apparently, back when she was in high school, the same time as the little giant, there was a guy on the team named Tsukishima.”

“Wait, what?” Azumane stared at him in shock and Kuroo was overtaken by silence.

“Tsukishima’s brother was on the same team as the little giant?!” Daichi’s brows furrowed as he took the new information into his perception of his teammates.

“We don’t know for sure, okay?” Tanaka reasoned. “It might just be someone else with the same last name.”

Practice was called again and Kuroo returned to Nekoma with new thoughts weighing on his mind.

After a Karasuno loss to Nekoma, the losing team started their run up the hill. A distressed shout from Yamaguchi pulled their attention to the losing spectacle. Tsukishima stopped halfway and Kuroo had half a mind to step up and tell him to sit out for a while, but he couldn’t.

* * *

During the between match practice, Tsukishima overheard the coach talking about taking him out of the game as a regular and it struck him to the bone. He wouldn’t be on the court—he was useless. Tears stung at his eyes and he had to take a moment to control his emotions so he couldn’t burst into tears in the middle of practice.

At the end of the day, he overhead Suga and Tanaka talking about him being a waste of height and his shoulders dropped. He was going to be replaced on Karasuno. _Is there a point to continuing?_

“Hey, Megane-kun! How about doing spike practice with me again today?” Bokuto stepped up behind him with a wide smile on his face.

“Sorry, I’ll pass.” His shoulders dropped more and he moved away from the alpha. He tried to keep his expression as composed as possible.

“Oh, really? Kuroo!”

“Urg.” The alpha replied.

“Oh, come on, I haven’t even said anything yet!”

“Why are you refusing? That’s such a waste Tsukishima!” Hinata followed after him.

“Be quiet. I’m not an idiot with insane stamina like you.” Kei left the gym with only one word echoing around in his head.

_Waste. Waste. Waste. Waste._ He was a waste of space and even his supposed soulmate stopped caring about him. He bit his lip and continued his walk to the school.


	4. Chapter 4

After Yamaguchi’s yelling tirade about pride that shook his entire belief system, Tsukishima found himself in front of the third gymnasium once again.

“Oya?” Akaashi was the first to notice him and he turned away from the blocking practice.

“Oya oya?” Bokuto joined in.

Kuroo peeked around to him through the net. “Oya oya oya.”

“There’s something I’d like to ask you. May I?”

“Sure.” Bokuto and Kuroo answered together.

“Sorry for interrupting, and thank you.” Kei fixated his gaze on the ground. “Your teams are both moderately strong, right? Even if you were able to make it to the nationals, it would certainly be difficult to come out on top, right?”

“It’s not like it’s impossible!” Kōtarō defended.

“Calm down and let’s hear him out. He’s talking hypothetically, you know.” Akaashi placed a hand on Bokuto’s shoulder.

“I’m genuinely curious. Why would you go to such lengths?” He looked up. “Volleyball is only a club, so about the only merit in it is being able to write ‘I worked hard in club activities during my student years’ in a future memoir, right?”

The two alphas were immediately distracted with a joke and Tsukishima felt, momentarily, like he went to the wrong people to get his question answered.

“Say, Megane-kun.” Bokuto turned on him suddenly.

“My name is Tsukishima.”

“Say, Tsukishima-kun. Do you enjoy playing volleyball?”

He thought about it for a moment. “Well, not particularly.”

“Isn’t that because you suck at it?”

“Oi,” Kuroo breathed out. His best friend was going to send the omega away again and Tetsurō wanted him close so he could fix his mistakes.

“Well, I’ve gone to the nationals for three years and I’m absolutely positively better at this than you! But it was only recently that I started to think volleyball was ‘enjoyable’. And that’s because my ‘straight spike’ became usable in actual matches. The cross spike that was originally my specialty kept getting stopped cold. I was so damn frustrating, so I kept practicing my straight pike, and then in the next competition those same opponents who blocked me before couldn’t even touch the straight I drove past them. With that one hit, it felt like my time had come. It’s a matter of whether that moment exists for you or not. What will happen in the future and whether or not you can win the next match, for once, none of that matters. Crushing the guys in front of you, and the amazing feelings of having shown one-hundred and twenty percent of your strength are everything.” He paused his monologue. “Well, that just in my case, so it’s not like It would apply to everyone. That whole ‘only a club’ thing you were saying doesn’t really mean anything to me, but I don’t think it’s wrong. Still, _if_ you experience that _moment_, it’ll really get you hooked on volleyball.”

The gym was quiet and Kuroo was impressed by his friend’s answer. Based on the omega’s expression, it meant something to him.

“Now, since I answered your question. Come block for me.”

“I’ll teach you a technique you can use. First off, be ‘aware’.” Kuroo held up his arms. “Put power into the very tips of your fingers, so the ball absolutely won’t blow past them. Also, extend your hands out in front of you, not above you. In front. And then make this noisy-ass owl shut up!”

“I’d like to see you try!” The other alpha taunted.

After a few tries, Kuroo stepped up behind the omega and adjusted his posture. The cloying, lustful scent was back, but tenfold as he came in direct contact with the alpha for the first time. He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. His body swayed, but Tetsurō kept him upright by stiffening his own posture.

“Sorry,” he stepped back once he knew the omega could hold himself up.

“It’s okay. You’re showing me how to block.” Tsukishima swallowed hard and across the net, he met Akaashi’s fond gaze.

“Oh, this is your soulmate, huh?” Bokuto asked and Keiji’s eyes went wide right before he slapped himself in the face. “Akaashi’s mine, in case you’re wondering. When he went into heat, my rut came early and we synced up. It took the entire team to drag us apart last year.”

“Bokuto-san,” the omega scolded softly. “Please keep your thoughts to yourself.”

The pair facing Bokuto and Akaashi didn’t talk much for the rest of their practice, but at least Tsukishima didn’t leave.

* * *

The next day, Tsukishima scared Bokuto enough to force him into avoiding the block with a feint. Kuroo laughed from his place on the other court and was proud of the achievement his omega made against a powerful alpha.

At night, Kei returned to gymnasium three and was followed by Hinata.

“Oh? You brought a friend along today?”

They ended up with Lev in the gym too, and decided to start a three on three game. Kuroo immediately claimed Tsukishima and Lev for his team, which left the shorter three on the team together.

“Isn’t this incredibly unbalanced?” Akaashi noted.

“It’s fine. We’re doing what we can’t during the day.” Kuroo assured.

Several rounds later found Kuroo yelling at Lev for something else he did. “Lev! I told you to look where the ball is going before you jump. READ BLOCKING.”

“Ah, right.” Lev shouted as he came down from jumping in front of Hinata. Akaashi set the ball to Bokuto and Tsukishima ran to block. He jumped sideways into it and missed the ball. Kuroo picked up a receive on the floor.

“Don’t ‘jump sideways’ and block the best you can. When you can, you should come to a full stop and jump straight up.”

“Alright.” Kei agreed softly.

“Free ball!” Hinata called from their side.

The ball went up and Tsukishima put into practice Kuroo’s advice. He came to a full stop and jumped straight up in front of Hinata for a set. He blocked it with ease and one of his satisfied smirks showed up on his face. Shōyō made a displeased noise and he could feel the grin on Kuroo’s face behind him.

“If you don’t finish up soon, you won’t get any dinner.” Shirofuku Yukie, one of Fukurōdani ’s managers, showed up in the doorway and pointed at the cafeteria.

The group quickly ended their game and ran to get dinner. The cafeteria still teemed with activity despite the late hour and Tsukishima chose a table by himself. Nearby, he heard Bokuto complain about his mate not wanting to eat a meal with him and Akaashi’s quiet rebuttal.

“It’s just omega bonding time. We need that. I’m not going off with some other alpha. Please eat with Kuroo and focus on alpha bonding time. We’ll be back together for bed.”

Moments later, Akaashi joined him at the empty table and started to eat. He didn’t say anything and the quiet was nice—especially with Akaashi’s soft clementine smell drifting across the table.

“How are you liking the extra blocking practice?” The other omega only spoke once they were done with their food.

“It’s, kind of fun. It was definitely more enjoyable today shutting down Hinata’s spike.”

Keiji hummed. “You’re quite good at blocking when you apply yourself.”

Tsukishima stared at him. “You didn’t sit with me to talk about volleyball.”

“No.” The omega set down his chopsticks. “I came to talk to you about Kuroo and soulmates.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Tsukishima stared down bitterly at this empty bowls.

“I think there is. I know that Kuroo’s rut caused you to present early and that you have an aversion to soulmates, but Kuroo’s trying.”

“Kuroo-san already has an omega.” Kei whispered. “I’m not getting between that because of a stupid cycle sync up.”

Akaashi’s brows furrowed together. “What do you mean he already has an omega? Kuroo isn’t dating anyone.”

“But—Kenma-san. In May he was the only omega who could get close to Kuroo-san and he keeps being scented by Kuroo-san during the training camp.”

“Kenma,” Keiji’s mouth opened in surprise. He touched his chin in thought. “I suppose it would look like that. Kenma and Kuroo grew up together and Kuroo certainly cares for him, but they aren’t dating. They’re more like brothers than anything else. You wouldn’t be getting between anything already existing.”

“Oh.”

“Come on, let’s go to the baths together. It’s easier to bathe when it isn’t full of alphas. I think most of the omegas are there right now.” The second-year stood with his tray and headed for the turn-in location. Tsukishima followed behind him with his head bowed. “Don’t look so sad, Tsukishima-kun, I’ll have Kuroo after my head tonight thinking I did something. He’s surprisingly protective.”

“I don’t need an alpha to protect me.”

“You don’t.” Akaashi agreed. “But, he wants to show that he cares for you. Do you care for him?”

“Maybe a little. I don’t know. Everything he does bugs me.”

“There are plenty of things about Bokuto-san that annoy me too.” Keiji smiled. “In the end, though, there’s plenty about him to make me forget all those other things. I’m sure there’s something about Kuroo that you like.”

“His smell and his tips for blocking.”

“Juniper is a lovely scent.”

They stepped into the baths and quickly undressed.

“We can wash each other’s backs.” Akaashi said.

Tsukishima agreed and they helped each other clean themselves after a long day at practice. They joined a few other omegas in the larger bath, which included Sugawara from Karasuno, and sat in relative silence until they heard a few alphas calling in to see if it was okay to enter the baths. The omegas quickly jumped out of the warm water and dressed. The alphas entered the room and started their own bathing routine.

“Want to come back to Fukurōdani ’s room with me? There may be a few betas, but we can scent each other if you want.”

“I only ever scent with my own team.” Tsukishima curled his toes in his slippers.

“I understand. It was merely an offer.”

“I—I don’t think I’d mind.”

“Do you like being an omega?” Akaashi led him to their classroom by holding hands and there was something nice about it.

“Yes, I feel like I shouldn’t—especially after everything that has happened, but I enjoy it more than I thought I would. It’s not a horrible feeling like a lot of people describe.”

“I agree. I could stand a little less horniness during my heat, but being with Bokuto and scenting—that’s something betas don’t get to enjoy and it’s a rather wonderful experience.”

Tsukishima nodded and was surprised by the arrangement of the Fukurōdani room when Keiji opened the door. A couple futons were pushed together toward the front of the classroom and the rest were pushed away from them in a communal group like how the Karasuno beds were set up. When Akaashi pulled him to the futons, it only took a moment for him to realize that they were for the omega and Bokuto.

“Our team is considerate of our relationship.” He explained softly as they took a seat on the soft blankets. “I wish there were more omegas on my team that I could bond with, but I’m the only one on first string.”

Akaashi extended his arm to the omega and rubbed the gland on his wrist softly against the one under Tsukishima’s jawline. The blond tilted into the feeling and released a soft waft of strawberry. Keiji leaned in and pushed his face into Kei’s neck. The first-year reciprocated the move and they both found themselves laying down on the futon as they scented. The betas in the room didn’t appear disturbed to Tsukishima’s surprise.

“They’ve seen the second-string omegas do this in the locker rooms.” Akaashi explained.

The two drifted into a light sleep, cuddling, until Bokuto showed up and insisted that he wanted his bed back. The two dutifully walked a sleepy Tsukishima back to the Karasuno classroom and handed him off to a surprised Sugawara.

* * *

In the morning, Akaashi joined the Karasuno omegas for breakfast, much to Bokuto’s obvious jealousy. Kuroo, on the other hand, looked pleased that his omega got along with others fine. Tsukishima seemed like the type of person that needed more friends.

That night found them in the gymnasium practicing as a group of six again.

“When you’re going one-on-one with a spiker, you should essentially block the opponent’s ‘dominant arm’ rather than their ‘full body’.” Kuroo provided as he wiped sweat off his face.

“Um… when we’re in a match, we’re mutual enemies, aren’t we?” Tsukishima started. “Why are you going so far to give us advice?”

_Because you’re my soulmate_. Echoed through Kuroo’s head, but instead he straightened his posture and pressed his hand over his heart. “I’m always this kind.”

Tsukishima and Hinata leveled him with matching blank looks and Tetsurō’s face fell.

“Those looks are uncalled for.”

Tsukishima sucked on his teeth to keep from laughing.

“I want to make that ‘Battle of the Trash Heap’ a reality somehow.” The alpha’s hand moved to the back of his neck and rubbed at the short hairs. “Our head coach is really hoping for it, but there’s no telling how much longer it’ll be before he retires. For that to happen, we need you Karasuno guys to win your way through the rounds, too. Well it’s my training session, so don’t sweat the small stuff. C’mon, practice time.”

They turned back to their three on three match and focused on playing a good game.

“Hedge him in!” Kuroo shouted across the court. “Widen your blocking surface area.”

Bokuto shouted off a comment about their height before he hit the ball and made it bounce back off the block. The ball went up again and this time he spiked it past both Tsukishima and Lev.

They played a couple more rounds until it came for Hinata’s turn to spike the ball. All three of the team cat members stood in front of the net.

“You guys are just awful, ganging up on him!” Bokuto yelled at them against one of Kuroo’s satisfied smirks.

The ball hit Lev’s fingertips and sailed off onto the court behind them.

“That was an amazing block out!” Kuroo screeched. He looked proud of the small omega and it twisted something fierce into Tsukishima’s stomach.

They continued on for a while and at the end of the night, they were exhausted and had learned a few new tricks.

“You guys did great today.” Kuroo stepped up behind Tsukishima and Lev and slapped them both on the back. “I’m proud of you. It’s sad to think that this is the last night we can all practice together as incomplete groups.”

“It’s been enlightening.” Kei agreed softly. He stooped into a bow. “Thank you for the advice.”

“You don’t need to be so formal.” The alpha took a short step back in surprise.

They were quiet as they walked out the gym doors into the cool night air. Tsukishima shivered a little, but it felt nice.

“I know this probably isn’t the right moment at all, but I want to get to know you better Tsukki.” Kuroo looked over at him.

“Um—”

“I really tried my best to not mention it at all, but after this week I don’t know when or if we’ll see each other again. I wanted to try one last time to convey that I do want to do things right—even if didn’t quite work out that way from the start.”

Kei was quiet as he stared at the alpha and watched his subtle skittish movements. “I don’t mind.” He finally whispered. “But why are you calling me Tsukki?”

“I heard your friend on Karasuno call you it and I figured it was a nickname.” A warm smile crept onto the alpha’s face.

“Yamaguchi is the only one who calls me that.”

“Oh, I see. Yeah, okay.” He cleared his throat. “You’re okay with keeping in touch though and maybe seeing each other?”

Tsukishima nodded hesitantly. “I don’t mind if you call me, by that name.”

The smile Kuroo leveled him with nearly blinded him. “Here, my number. You can reach out to me when you want and we’ll go from there.”

Kei took the slip of paper gently from the other’s hand and their fingers brushed against each other. It was electric.

“Good night, Tsukki.” The alpha turned away and headed toward the sleeping quarters. The omega watched him go with a soft smile. He pressed the paper against his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I legit want to write a good Yakuza A/B/O AU for this pairing--but every one that I start just ends up sounding lame in the first chapter. I wish I could figure out how to start it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and do an update schedule. If it doesn't work, then I'll update as I have chapters available. Some fics of mine, such as _Moon and Night_, _ Rebel_, and _Damn Pinch Server_ are already part of the random updates. If I finish their prequels, then they'll take that upload space.
> 
> Sunday: _ The Last Seven Years _  
Tuesday: _ Fuck You _  
Thursday: _ Omega _  
Saturday: _ Youngblood _ COMING SOON (It's a Yakuza AU)

After their practice matches, they met outside on the final day to eat Barbecue. Tsukishima walked up behind Akaashi where he stood off to the side.

“So, Bokuto-san has slumps as well.” 

“Yeah… there’s no way of telling what will make him self-destruct.” Akaashi watched his boyfriend talk to Hinata. “But he never gets depressed over having a strong opponent, so that’s not really an issue. When the rest of the team seems disheartened, he’s generally the only one still in high spirits.”

Lunch was called and most of the teenagers scrambled to find a spot around one of the many barbecues.

Tsukishima found himself on the stairs leading into one of the gyms. Kenma was playing a videogame on the other side and Yamaguchi stood next to him with a plate of food. They watched Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Yamamoto declare a protection circle for Shimizu and Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

“Why are they calling Nishinoya ‘master’?”

“Apparently it’s because he was the only one daring enough to have taken a slap from Shimizu-senpai.” Tsukishima sighed and leaned forward on one of his hands.

“I see.”

“C’mon and eat more, Tsukishima!” Daichi held out a plate of onigiri and meat to him and spoke with a full mouth.

“I can’t eat that much.” The omega denied.

“You should eat some veggies too.” Kuroo’s voice surprised him and he nearly slipped from his perch on the top step. “You too, Kenma, damn it!”

Kenma quickly jumped up and tried to find a place to hide. Bokuto showed up behind the other two alpha’s and told them they should eat more meat. Tsukishima backed up on the porch and held his breath as the pheromones grew in volume and tried to make him submit—albeit unconsciously. Yamaguchi stepped a little closer to him when he recognized his friend’s discomfort.

“Back off of him.” Kenma whispered as he slipped past with his video game. The three alpha looked startled by the sharp reprimand, but quickly took several steps back.

“Tsukki, let’s go over there.” Yamaguchi grabbed the omega’s hand and pulled him toward one of the empty barbecues. Bokuto turned back to one of the other barbecues and Daichi was pulled over to Suga. Kuroo glanced around and then gently approached the space between Bokuto and Tsukishima’s barbecues.

“You’re in the nation’s top five?” Hinata screeched as he joined Fukurodani’s ace.

“Right? Right!” Bokuto started laughing.

“But Ushiwaka’s from your area and he’s in the top three.” Kuroo said.

“Top three?”

“Hey! If you say that, it knocks me down!” Bokuto let out a soft, joking, and mildly threatening growl.

Lev stepped up between Kuroo and Tsukishima. “You said three, so there are still two more, right?”

Kuroo gave him a sharp side-eye smirk. “Kyushu’s Kiryuu and Kanto’s Sakusa. The top three aces in Japan.”

“Of course, one of them had to be in Miyagi.” Tsukishima made a face.

“Tsukki! You’ve been practicing with my spikes. You’re not allowed to be afraid of Ushiwaka.” Bokuto exclaimed.

“Could you please not call me ‘Tsukki’?”

“Just because the aces are the top three, doesn’t mean that their teams are as well.” Kuroo amended. “Itachiyama is the favorite to win this year though, and they have Sakusa.”

“So, if we beat them, then we’ll be number one?” Hinata and Lev asked together.

“You talk big for being the top two in sucking.” Kuroo goaded. A short laugh slipped out of Tsukishima’s lips before he could stop it and he felt the alpha’s gaze on him.

Hinata and Lev found themselves distracted with who was the worst volleyball player and they ran around asking different people who they thought was better at the sport. Yamaguchi had to get more water and left Tsukishima to deal with Kuroo and Bokuto on his own. Bokuto took the opportunity to throw his arm around the omega.

“You never could stop my spikes, Tsukki!”

“Please don’t call me ‘Tsukki’, Bokuto-san.” Tsukishima adjusted his glasses and pulled away. When he turned, he crashed into Kuroo and the alpha steadied him.

“Text me, yeah?” Tetsurō gave him a casual smile before he let go and wandered over to talk to Daichi and Suga about team captaining and upcoming sports events.

Kei felt incredibly flustered.

* * *

When they climbed onto the bus to head back to Miyagi, Tsukishima looked back at Shinzen one last time and found most of the people standing at the top of the stairs to see them off. His eyes drifted across them until they landed on Kuroo. The third-year gave him a little wave and Kei turned bright red. The training camp had given him a new perspective—not only on volleyball, but on his relationship as well. Perhaps he and Kuroo were meant for each other.

* * *

When he arrived back home, he sat down in the genkan and started to take off his shoes.

“Tadaima.”

“Whoa, Kei, you grew even taller!” The door opened behind him and Akiteru’s voice made the omega jump. “You totally passed me a long time ago.”

Tsukishima turned slowly to face his older brother. “Nii-chan.”

“It’s been a while.” Akiteru smiled and gestured for them to go outside into the back yard.

Tsukishima settled himself on the porch and stared at the ground. Akiteru stepped down and walked up to their basketball hoop.

“It’s been so long since I’ve talked to you.”

“Has it?”

“Even when I come home, other than when we’re eating, you stay in your room. Are you adjusting that badly to being an omega?”

“No, I like it actually. Do I just stay in my room?”

“Mm, but your expression has changed a bit. You went to the away games, right? Was it a rough trip?”

“It was normal.” Kei tightened his hands into fists over his sweats and looked away from his brother.

“You’ve got ‘rough’ written all over your face.” Akiteru laughed warmly. He threw a volleyball into the air and started to bounce it back and forth between his fingers and the basketball hoop.

“You’re still playing volleyball, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m on a team.”

“Do you have tournaments?”

“Yes.” They were quiet for only a moment. “You want to know why I’m still playing after what happened in high school, right? It’s because of what happened in high school.”

He caught the ball and turned to look at his little brother.

“Even now, when I think back on it, it’s seriously frustrating, and I can’t think of it as a good experience. Not to mention, you ended up seeing how pathetic I was. I didn’t do anything in high school. I didn’t get to experience any of the good things in volleyball. But I already found out how great it feels to get a spike in, the pride you feel when you hear the cheers.”

Tsukishima was reminded of Bokuto from the training camp and a few things started to come together in his mind.

“I want to be in a place where I can do my best until I’m satisfied.”

“I see.” A smile found its way to Kei’s lips and the two brothers sat in a companionable silence.

“Yamaguchi told me that your soulmate was at the training camp.” Akiteru took a seat on the porch.

“Traitor,” the blond scoffed.

“Did you talk with him at all?”

“Yeah, we practiced blocking every night during the extra practice time.”

“Oh?”

“We were with a couple other people and the last couple days turned into three on three matches.”

“What did you learn about him?”

“That he gives his enemies a lot of help and advice. He wants to make the Karasuno versus Nekoma match happen at Nationals and to do that—we have to get through Ushijima on our side.”

“Ah, so he’s getting you to nationals where he can see you again.” Akiteru smirked. “How clever.”

“Perhaps.” Tsukishima leaned back on the porch.

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“He’s really protective, even if I don’t want him to be. He is conscious of his position related to me, though. Kuroo-san would back off when he could tell I was feeling awkward around him. He—may have given me his number so I can contact him.”

“Are you going to reach out to him?”

“I don’t know yet. Tokyo is really far away.”

“It’s a little over two hours by train.” Akiteru nudged him.

“Yeah, but base price is eight-thousand yen, I don’t have that kind of money.”

“I suppose not.” They sat for a while longer, when Kei made to stand up and leave, his brother stopped him. “I got you something today—an early birthday present.”

“My birthday is two months away.”

“A bonus present, a summer present, whatever you want to call it.” Akiteru fished his wallet out of his pants. He pulled out a small card and pushed it into Tsukishima’s hand. “It’s good for twenty-one days. I asked them to start it tomorrow since I was buying it at the end of the day, and they agreed.”

Kei stared down at the Japan Rail Pass ticket in his hand. It was a fully paid for ticket that would take him back and forth from Sendai to Tokyo as much as he wanted for the next twenty-one days.

“You don’t have to use it, but now you have the option. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to want to be with your alpha. As a beta, I won’t ever get to experience that.” He placed a hand on Kei’s head. “I just want to make sure my brother is taken care of. You have to promise to introduce us.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Tsukishima hoped it would be okay showing up outside Nekoma like this. He texted Kuroo and asked about their practice schedule, much to the alpha’s delight. They didn’t talk about much outside of volleyball, but the occasional texts about what happened during their practice (usually Lev pissing someone off) made his days a little more entertaining.

He walked through the suburban area of Tokyo prefecture and checked his phone to make sure he was headed in the right direction. He steeled his heart to stop its fast beating as he stepped up to the front gates of Nekoma. He played with his phone by changing the song several times, but none of the tunes soothed his nerves as he waited for the moment when Nekoma would emerge from the gates.

Tsukishima’s anticipation grew and he found himself wishing he hadn’t made the trip to Tokyo to see the alpha. He fiddled with his phone and leaned against the pillar of the main gate. He toyed with the idea of texting the alpha and only caved after waiting at the gate for almost fifteen minutes.

**Practice almost done?**

**Itching to talk to me, Tsukki?**

Kei smiled. If he had his phone on him then practice was over.

**I don’t know.**

**I’m glad you texted.**

**Give me just a second to get my clothes on.**

The blond’s face flushed red and he did his best to not imagine Kuroo in his underwear. The feeling of Kuroo’s arms around him at the training camp came back and did nothing to settle his nerves.

**How was your day off?**

**I spent most of it traveling.**

**Oh?**

**Where are you going?**

**I’ll show you later.**

**That’s promising.**

Kei felt his phone vibrate again, but he didn’t look at the message. He kept his phone down and his face trained on the school. When he looked at the map of the school on Google Maps, the gymnasiums were positioned near the back of the school and the main walkway to the front gate sent students around the right side of the building. Tsukishima shuffled and decided to move so he wasn’t in the direct line of sight.

His phone found its way back to his hand.

**The third years decided we were all going to go out for ice-cream on our way home—so if I don’t text back right away, you’ll know why.**

**Plus, they’re snoops. Can’t get a love life of their own, so they try to get into mine.**

**Not that we really have that kind of a relationship—it was just a saying.**

**Sorry, if I scared you away.**

**My team only ever goes out for meat buns since Ukai-san owns Sakanoshita.**

**That’s fun too.**

**Okay, this is going to sound totally crazy**

**I just**

**I must be thinking about you too much because I swear, I can smell you**

**Which is obviously not correct because I’m in Tokyo and you’re in Miyagi**

**It’s weird**

**Really weird.**

A smile graced Tsukishima face as he heard the tell-tale steps of the volleyball team approaching the gate. He welcomed the warm flood of juniper that clogged up his senses. Kei straightened his posture and tried to go for a more nonchalant pose against the brick as his phone buzzed several more times in his pocket.

“You’re probably bugging the kid.” Yaku’s voice rang out clearly amongst the crowd. “You never finish your thought before sending another text.”

“I get really excited.” Kuroo’s pouting voice brought a small smile to the blond’s face as he waited for the penultimate moment.

“Saying you can smell him is really excessive. He’s miles away. That’s not something soulmates can do.”

“But there’s clearly the smell of strawberries in this vicinity.”

“Probably the gardening club.” Kai tried to placate.

“Strawberries are only in season between April and June. It’s July.”

“Okay, so I probably don’t smell him.”

The three third-years stepped out of the gate and the blond stiffened. Yaku noticed him first and turned with mouth open which caught Kuroo’s attention. They stared at each other for a long moment before Tsukishima broke the silence.

“Surprise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yakuza AU Sneak Peak:
> 
> Title: _Youngblood_
> 
> “You’ve heard of the Kuroo-kai, haven’t you?”  
The omega looked up at him. “Are you the young kumichō?”  
“I am. It’s good that you recognize me.” Kuroo smiled. “I think I’ve kept you from your friends long enough and I have some business to attend to. You’ll keep what you did hear tonight a secret won’t you? There’s nothing absolutely awful about what you heard, but I want to play it safe.”  
He agreed and Kuroo walked him back out into the hallway.  
“What was your name, megane-kun?”  
“Tsukishima Kei.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Tsukki, you’re here.”

“Yes. I’m here.”

“But you’re in Tokyo. Right now. I’m not dreaming right?” Kuroo took a hesitant step toward him.

“You dream about me coming to Tokyo?” The omega was clearly skeptical.

“His nose is stronger than I thought.” Kai whispered from behind the alpha.

“I dream about a lot of things with you, Tsukki. I can tell you about them.”

The blond flushed and turned his face away. “I don’t need to hear.”

“Do you want to come get ice-cream with us?” Yaku offered as a way to cut off the captain.

“I’d love to.” Tsukishima peeled himself off the brick post and walked past Kuroo to join the other omega as he headed down the street.

“Did all of the third-years stick around for the last tournament on your team too?”

“Just the ones on first string.” Morisuke stretched his arms above his head. “Which is just Kai, Kuroo, and myself.”

“Do you know who’s going to be captain next year?” Kei felt Kuroo step up behind them next to Kai, but didn’t say anything about the alpha’s surprising lack of nosiness.

“Fukunaga, probably? We’re leaving it up to the second years to decide and they’re not terribly motivated about it.”

“Is it because you guys are staying until spring?”

“Maybe? I just think the second years don’t have anyone quite like Kuroo to keep them in line. Whoever takes it on has to get after Kenma, Yamamoto, and Lev.”

“Yaku—” Kuroo started.

“But you get after Lev too.” Tsukishima froze and turned to the alpha behind him. “Sorry, Kuroo-san, I cut you off.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I was just going to tease Yaku because he gave me some high praise.”

“And thank you from me for stopping him.” The smaller omega grabbed Kei’s arm. “Come on, we’re almost to the ice-cream shop. We’ll choose what we want and have Kuroo pay for us.”

“I can pay for myself.” Tsukishima tried to fight.

“I’m sure you can—but your senpai is buying you food. I’m sure you don’t fight your third years on it?”

“No.”

“See, then let Kuroo treat us.”

“How come you’re sneaking in on it too?” Kuroo whined from the back.

“Because I had to put up with you all day.”

“I can pay for Yaku—” Kai started.

“Don’t you dare Nobuyuki. This is between me and Kuroo.”

“Unbeknownst to him, I’ll get back at him tomorrow. Sic Lev on him.”

“I heard that, you asshole.” Yaku whipped the door to the shop open and held it open for them as they all filed in.

“What flavor do you want, Tsukki?”

“Strawberry.”

Kuroo looked at him in surprise. “You smell like strawberries, is that why you like the flavor?”

“No—I literally started smelling like strawberries a couple months ago because somebody else decided that playing volleyball was more important than tracking a rut.”

Kai stared at the ground in surprise and Kuroo certainly looked shell-shocked.

“I am sorry about that.” Kuroo reached out for the omega’s hands. “I’m not sorry I met you though. I should’ve taken better care of my rut—it’s true. Right now, I want to get to know you like we weren’t thrown into this because of a bad decision. Can you pretend with me?”

“I don’t know yet. That’s part of why I came to Tokyo—to talk to you and get to know you better. I’ve only seen you as the guy that was so careless, he made me present five months early.”

“Then, today, allow me to try and change your mind.”

“Okay.”

The other two in their group breathed easy again and conversation about flavor preferences picked up.

“How do you even like the taste of licorice?” Kai questioned Yaku’s rather sizable bowl of licorice ice-cream. It was complete with bits of red licorice mixed into the cream and two long sticks that hung over the side.

“I’ll have you know, that it is a fantastic flavor from the root of a glycyrrhiza glarba and it’s great for combatting ulcers, heartburn, and colic.”

“Do you have a lot of trouble with crying at night?” Tsukishima’s eyebrows knit together. “I’m not sure copious amounts of licorice could solve that problem.”

He found himself on the receiving end of a swift kick to his leg under the table. He let out a small whimper of pain and it coaxed a momentary growl out of Kuroo.

“I can see why you and Kuroo are soulmates. You’re both assholes.” Yaku turned his focus to the ice-cream.

“I can’t believe that Kuroo-san is met with a large selection of ice-cream and he goes with chocolate, with chocolate chunks. What is wrong with you?” Tsukishima leveled him with a half-amused glance.

“I thought about going for chocolate covered strawberries, but I figured that was taking it a step to far.” The smirk on his lips and the soft unabashed timber of his voice showcased his honesty. Kei turned completely red and put all his focus on eating the snack. Tetsurō nudged the omega with his leg. “What do you want to do while you’re in Tokyo?”

“Maybe, Skytree? Just so I can rub it in Hinata’s face.”

“Sure, we can go there. Anything else in mind?”

“Not really—I haven’t thought about coming to Tokyo all that much.”

“We’ll go to Skytree and then see where we’re at in the day. Sound good?”

Kei nodded and quickly finished his ice-cream.

“You have a train pass, right Tsukki?” Kuroo nudged him out of the booth.

“Yes, my brother bought me the pass so I could come down here.”

“That’s a really nice brother.” Tetsurō smiled. “Is he older or younger?”

“Older—he’s in university.”

“I wish I had siblings, but my mom left shortly after I was born.” He turned back to the third years. “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Have fun!” Kai waved them off.

They walked to the train station in silence and Kuroo directed them through the stations. When they got off at their stop, Tsukishima was pulled back from the exiting crowd by the alpha.

“Tokyo’s crowded in this part, and I don’t want to get separated—so—” he held out his hand. Kei blinked several times before he took the alpha’s hand and let him guide them as a couple through the crowd.

They spent about two hours at Tokyo Tower exploring the decks and gazing out over the city. Tsukishima took several pictures under the pretense of sending them to Yamaguchi. There was one stored away on his phone of Kuroo gazing out over the city, leaning against the window. It was a simple picture, mostly dark because of the light filtering through the windows, but he liked looking at the lazy profile.

“Did you see anything from the top that interested you?”

“Huh?” For a moment Kei thought he knew about the secret photo.

“You know, for visiting. Since we’re sightseeing. Anything interesting enough that you want to explore it?”

“I didn’t see anything. Is there something you were looking forward to?”

“We could do a shrine hop or go to Shiba park.”

“The park sounds a little less crowded.”

“Sure, let’s go.” Kuroo grabbed his hand again and pulled him back to the elevator from the observation deck.

* * *

After their day out, Kuroo insisted that he treat Tsukishima to dinner at the best ramen place he knew, and the omega reluctantly agreed. He had to catch the train back to Miyagi before it got too late.

At the ramen place, after they put in their order, Kuroo started something he didn’t expect.

“Pretend like we’re meeting for the first time.”

“What?” Tsukishima gave him an amused glance.

Kuroo stood up and leaned against the counter in what Tsukishima assumed was meant to be a sexy pose.

“What’s a handsome guy like you doing here all alone?”

“Kuroo-san, what are you doing?”

“You already know my name. It must be fate. I’ll have to pay for your dinner.”

“Are you hitting on me?” A small smile crept onto the omega’s lips.

“How could anyone not hit on you?”

Tsukishima smelled the subtle change in the alpha’s scent and he leaned in a little closer. It was nice—it had an edge his normal juniper didn’t, but it wasn’t as thick as what he remembered from Kuroo’s rut.

“I don’t much appreciate having alpha’s hit on me.” He responded softly.

“Oh?” Kuroo leaned in a little closer and Kei could feel his breath on his lips.

“Though, I have to admit, there is something appealing about you. Perhaps I will let you pay for my dinner.”

“I can certainly handle that.”

Kei’s eyes fluttered closed, but before either of them had a chance to make everyone uncomfortable with any type of PDA, they were interrupted by their dinner being set on the counter in front of them. Tetsurō propped himself back on his stool and both of them dug into their meals.

“This is really good ramen.” The omega complimented when half of it was gone.

“It is, and it’s affordable. I like coming here because the old man that runs it is a good business owner. There’s tons of shops like this all over Tokyo, but none of them compare.”

“Those shops are always the best. I honestly do think the meat buns from Sakanoshita are the best—not just because our coach is an inheritor.”

“I’ll have to try them when I’m in Miyagi. I didn’t get to enjoy much of it in May.” Kuroo lifted his drink and took a small sip. “I hope you enjoyed your day in Tokyo.”

“I did. The company was quite nice—though, maybe not so much after the ice-cream shop.” Tsukishima smirked into his spoonful of broth.

“You’re playing with fire, omega.” The humor in Kuroo’s eyes bypassed his firm voice.

“I stand next to the sun almost every day, I can handle a little fire.”

“Do you mind if I walk you to the train station?”

“No.”

They walked in companionable silence. The alpha didn’t try and hold his hand this time around and Tsukishima felt a little disappointed by the lack of contact. The wait on the platform was fairly uneventful. There was one moment where a group of rowdy younger boys nearly crashed into them, but they were chased off by a low growl from Kuroo when they came too close to the blond.

“When’s your next rest day?” Tetsurō asked minutes before the train was due to arrive.

“Sunday.”

“Would you mind if I come up to Miyagi that day? You can show me around the tourist attractions there and we can get meat buns at Sakanoshita.” He paused. “I’ve been saving up my allowance for a while now because I haven’t had anything to buy. A train ticket is good right?”

“No.”

“Oh—uh, right. I can stay here in Tokyo.”

“No, sorry. Shit, that wasn’t what I meant.” Tsukishima quickly tried to recover. “Hold on.”

He held up the pass he had and waved it so he was on the other side of the gate. Once there, he reached back over with the card extended.

“It’s good for another couple weeks. There’s no point in you paying when I have this. You can give it back to me when you get to Miyagi.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t need it where I live. I don’t ride the train more often. Save your money and use the card. Or don’t. It’s a gift from me to you.”

“Thank you, Tsukki. I’ll see you next week?”

“Next week.” He agreed.

He quickly headed down further into the platform away from the alpha so he could catch the train on time. In two hours, he’d be back in Miyagi away from Kuroo and their day around Tokyo. Tsukishima had to admit that it was a fun, but he was scared of the prospects of dating a senpai from a big city.

Frankly, there were larger issues they needed to figure out than distance.

* * *

Kuroo flopped down onto Kenma’s bed with a blissed-out expression on his face. The music from the omega’s video game was soft under the layers of monster roars as he battled an unknown foe. The music was orchestral and had beautiful sweeping measures. Kuroo was tempted to find out the name of the game and buy the soundtrack for easy listening or lulling him to sleep.

“We had a legitimate date.”

“Good, now you can stop complaining to me about your woe love life.”

“It’s not a woe love life.”

“Sure.” Kenma titled the gaming device and looked annoyed when it didn’t help him. “Why are you here? Didn’t Akaashi mention that Tsukishima felt weird about you hanging out with me?”

“He said it was more like he felt threatened by our relationship. I’m not going to stop being your best friend, though. It’d be wrong—I just have to introduce Tsukishima to your existence slowly.” Kuroo rolled over on the bed to where he could fish out a volleyball. He tossed it up in the air and caught it again.

“I’m glad for that—it does make sense that you wouldn’t abandon anyone. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to talk to him about us though. Especially since we do pack and familial scenting. I’d be nervous about it to if there was an alpha interested in me and he had something going on with another omega. Friend or not.”

“Really?”

“I’m not a typical omega. Not in the same way that Tsukishima is, but we both don’t fit the stereotype. I’m not particularly inclined toward being a parent, less so than even most betas. I like videogames more than anything else, and I don’t exactly like my heats. I can’t play any games during them and I want something that I don’t normally want during any other time.” Kenma hit the pause button and set the handheld console in his lap. “If I was dating someone and they had another omega that they were close with, I would assume that I was being replaced and rejected.”

“All because you don’t fit a specific stereotype.” Kuroo nodded along. “So, I need to talk with Tsukishima about what we’re comfortable with regarding our other relationships outside of our own.”

“Exactly.” Kenma rolled onto his stomach. “He’s a tall omega—if anything he should’ve presented as a beta, but here we are.”

“I’ll talk to him on Sunday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The new chapter of Haikyuu though. HNNGH.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's still Tuesday where I live.

On Sunday, Tsukishima sat in the train station waiting for Kuroo to show up. He arrived half an hour before out of anticipation and cursed himself for his eagerness.

When the train pulled into the station, he stood up from the bench so he would be noticed above the crowd. Kei spotted the alpha easily over the sea of passengers and Kuroo pressed his way quickly through them till he stood at Tsukishima’s side.

“Hey,” the older greeted softly.

“Hello.”

“What are you going to show me in Miyagi today?”

“I thought we could just walk around Sendai.” Tsukishima picked up his bag and reached into the larger pouch. “I know you can just buy one here, but here’s a souvenir.”

Kuroo took the box of candy and pushed it into his backpack. “Thank you, Tsukki. I’ll be sure to let you know my review of the candy when I eat it.”

“You don’t have to—I’m not going to buy one for myself.”

Their walk around the city was quieter than Kuroo wanted, but his attempts at conversation were weak and easy to shut down. Tsukishima seemed to enjoy the quiet and the alpha did his best to retain a certain level of quiet between them—even if he found it awkward.

They stopped in at Sakanoshita for lunch, which made good on their promise for Kuroo to try the meat buns. The entire time they were in the shop, and standing outside it eating, Tetsurō felt the alpha coach’s eyes following him like a hawk.

“I’m sorry this date isn’t as interesting as the one in Tokyo.” Tsukishima sat down on the curb outside the shop.

“I never said it wasn’t interesting.” Kuroo joined him on the ground. “I’m getting to know the area you grew up in.”

Kei was quiet for a long while. “After our date in Tokyo, I thought we would have fun walking around Sendai—but it’s not a very touristy location. It’s really dull.”

“Tsukki, I never said once that I thought any of the places you brought me were dull. I like being with you because it’s fun. Being together, window shopping. It’s more than enough.”

“Are you sure?”

“One-hundred percent sure.”

Tsukishima stared at the ground and took a bite out of his bun.

“There is something I wanted to talk to you about, though.”

Kei felt his heart freeze up in his chest. The meat bun tasted like cardboard and he wanted to spit it out.

“I was talking with Kenma last week—”

_There it is._ He forced himself to swallow.

“He’s under this impression that you might get the wrong idea about my relationship with him. We’re friends from elementary school—we moved to the house we currently live in after my mom left us and Kenma’s family happened to be our next-door neighbor. I’ve spent most of my life annoying him, probably, by dragging him out and getting him involved in things he’s not particularly keen on. That’s all it is. We were really close as kids so we see each other as siblings, nothing else.”

“Oh,” Tsukishima loosened his posture. “Yeah, I get that. Yamaguchi is kind of similar.”

“I’m glad you understand—he was pretty worried about you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he gave me one of the longest speeches I’ve heard him give.”

The rest of their day was similar to before, but the quiet between them was more natural. Tsukishima managed to tear his eyes away from the display of a strawberry shortcake before Kuroo noticed—something he was grateful for because he was usually made fun of for his sweet tooth and salty personality.

“Is there anything else you wanted to show me while I’m up here?” Kuroo asked as they sat on a park bench next to a pond.

“Nothing I could think of.”

“I hope you still had fun, even if you think Sendai is lame compared to Tokyo.”

“I did.”

“I’m glad. I’m worried that you won’t like being around me and then I’ll be in trouble.”

“Why would you be in trouble? You’re attractive—you could date anyone you wanted.”

“But, you’re my soulmate, Tsukki. I’m never going to find anyone else that fate told me was the one for me. Plus, I’d run the risk of whoever I’m dating finding their soulmate and leaving me.”

“Once you’re bonded to them though, that stuff doesn’t matter.”

“I’d always wonder. Somewhere in me, I’d be looking for you in every person I meet. I just wouldn’t ever know that I met you.” Kuroo turned to face the omega and found his face only millimeters away. He made to pull back so as not to scare Tsukishima, but in the next second, the omega’s lips were on his.

It took him only a moment to respond to the soft pressure of Kei’s lips. He didn’t try to push for anything more than a soft close-mouthed kiss, but it was one of the best feelings he experienced since the last win in a volleyball match.

The grumbling of an old lady on her way home made them pull apart. The blond completely pink as he sat on the bench and tugged at his fingers.

“That’s all the confirmation I need.” Kuroo smiled and slid into a slouched position.

“Of what?”

“That you do at least like me a little bit.”

Tsukishima snorted. “That’s all the confirmation I need that you’re a pain in the ass.”

They walked to the train station holding hands, at Kuroo’s request. Before he moved through the turn styles, the alpha pressed a quick kiss to the omega’s cheek.

* * *

Tsukishima was either about to be very brave or very stupid and he had a feeling that it was somehow both. He leaned against his closed bedroom door and pulled out his phone. He opened it up to a short message exchange between him and Akaashi.

**I need your help.**

**I’m all ears.**

**I want to surprise Kuroo-san.**

**With?**

**I want to spend my heat with him.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you just have to pull out some transition trash to get your to the next plot point. So, here that is.


	8. Chapter 8

“You’re really doing it, then?” Akiteru leaned against Tsukishima’s doorway with his arms folded. The blond barely glanced at his presence.

“I decided to be brave and take a leap with our relationship.” Kei folded a shirt and tucked it into his suitcase. “He’s supposed to be my soulmate, so everything will be fine—right?”

“That is the idea, but Kei you’re still fifteen. He’s two years older than you and you’ve only been on two dates with him. I’m not sure either of you know each other well enough to make this kind of a jump in your relationship. Sharing your heat and rut with someone is supposed to be special and planned. You’re going to be showing up with him none the wiser and hoping that he’s in the same place as you with the relationship you have. Don’t you see the problem that I’m having with this? I only want to protect you.”

“I know why you have objections to this—but I have friends in Tokyo helping me with it. I made some friends during the training camp and they’ve assured me that he’ll be happy to see me. Even if it’s a surprise.”

“I know they’re your friends, and I’m glad you’re making friends outside of Yamaguchi, but are you sure they really know what Kuroo is thinking?” Akiteru stepped into the room and sat on his little brother’s bed. “I know how heats and ruts can change your body when they come around. I may be a beta, but I’ve studied this and I’ve seen you during your heat. I’ve also been around alphas when they’re approaching their rut. I’m just not sure it’s the right time for you both.”

“I’ve thought about that too.”

“And?”

“I decided that despite all of that, that I want to take the chance. I know the risks and I know you’re worried about me because you’re my older brother—but I’m certain I’ll be fine. I’ll come back from Tokyo in a week and you’ll see there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I guess you have to grow up sometime. You just always like to do things early. Presenting—mating.”

“Presenting wasn’t my choice.” Kei reminded him with a huff.

“I know, but it’ll be something we can tease you about for the years to come. It’s the right we have as your family.” Akiteru laughed.

“Mom and dad barely recognize it.”

“Sure, but I’m here to cover that gap. An omega in a line of betas is surprising, but it’s what we have to live with.” The beta stood up and pulled his little brother into a quick hug. “At the very least, I’m going to support you in the decisions you decide to make. Keep me updated and let me know if you need anything.”

“I will.” Tsukishima reassured. “Thank you for understanding and letting me go to Tokyo now that I have this all planned.”

“What else are brothers for?”

* * *

When Tsukishima stepped off the train in Tokyo, he was greeted by an overenthusiastic Bokuto and Akaashi. There was a slight curve to his lips, a hint that he found Kei’s suffering entertaining (or was excited that Kuroo and the omega would be together), but overall his expression was as stoic as ever. Bokuto had the taller teen in a headlock and his face was pressed to the alpha’s bosom in an uncomfortable, face smushing way.

“Bokuto-san, please let go of Tsukishima-kun before you break his glasses.” The other omega reminded softly.

“Right, sorry Tsukki!” Kōtarō hooted and let go of Kei.

The blond righted himself and pushed his glasses back into their original position.

“I know you came here for Kuroo, but we thought we could take you out to lunch first and show you around Tokyo a little bit.” Bokuto told him. “We’re treating.”

“I’m treating,” Akaashi corrected. “But only treating lunch. I know you came here and did touristy things with Kuroo on a date—before you ask, he told us about it—but we heard from Kuroo that he’s out of the house right now getting stuff for his rut. We’d rather not dump you off on his porch to wait for him to come back.”

“Okay, thank you for your consideration.” He bowed at the waist.

“No need to be so formal, Tsukki!” The alpha cheered. “You’re among friends here.”

Lunch was as much of a quiet affair as it could be with Bokuto around. They had fun wandering around some of the local shops and stopped off at a few different places for small tastes of things that Tsukishima didn’t get to try outside of a big city. The Kit Kat store in particular was a favorite because of the mix and match flavors.

“Do you need anything for your heat that Kuroo might not have at his house?”

“I tried to pack most of my belongings in this bag,” Tsukishima gestured to his suitcase. “There are a few things I can think of that I need, though.”

“Let’s go shopping together. There’s a store near Kuroo’s house that has a lot of stuff for omegas. I’ve stopped in there a few times after we finished hanging out with Kuroo and Kenma.”

They walked around the crowds of people and moved into the more suburban parts of Tokyo city. It was quieter on those streets and they stood out more, especially with Tsukishima’s height and Bokuto’s hair. The shop that Akaashi led them to was a quaint one with a scent neutralizer at the entryway to help keep scents to a minimum inside the store. Mistakenly marking product with your scent would cause other customers to avoid it altogether.

Tsukishima found a fluffy pillow he liked on one of the shelves. When he pulled it to his chest, it was perfect for cuddling while rolling around in his nest.

“That’s a good choice. It’s soft.” Akaashi squeezed a similar one. “My nest is already too crowded, though.”

“Oi, Kenma, I’m not buying you any more sweatshirts.” Kuroo’s voice filtered over from a couple aisles over.

“Look at how big this one is.” Kenma responded. “I’d drown in it perfectly.”

“We came here to shop for my rut, not your heat.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t get a few things too.” Kozume audibly put the jacket into a basket. “What do you still need for your rut? I thought we had everything.”

“Only a couple more things—we need to stop by the konbini too and see if they have some dried jerky.”

“You and your freaking jerky. Do you have to have it every rut? It makes your breath smell something awful.”

The three of them ducked behind one of the other shelves so that the pair wouldn’t see them.

“It gives me protein—gotta have that for—well, not gonna mention it here.”

“Yeah, but you don’t brush your teeth for a week. No one wants to get near you.”

“And yet, you do.” Kuroo pushed the omega forward.

“Because I have to.”

“Don’t worry Tsukki,” Bokuto pat him on the back, “they live next door—I’m sure it’s just because of that.”

“I’m not worried.” Kei shrugged off his hand. “I’m going to buy this pillow, then we should go to Kuroo-san’s.”

Akaashi and Bokuto exchanged and awkward glance behind the blond.

“Sure, but maybe we should get some water just in case. I know how heats are.” Keiji suggested softly. “Just to make sure there’s enough at Kuroo’s.”

“That’s a good idea.” Kōtarō agreed quickly.

They headed to the small grocery section where they could find the water before they headed to the checkout.

“Okay, off to Kuroo’s to surprise him with his omega!” Bokuto cheered.

Tsukishima clutched the pillow closer to his chest.

_I really hope it is just because they’re neighbors_.


	9. Chapter 9

They were quiet for the remainder of their walk to Kuroo’s house. Tsukishima had his new pillow clutched tightly in his folded arms as he tried desperately not to overthink the situation.

He knew he was taking a huge leap.

He knew that his relationship with Kuroo wasn’t logically near this point.

He knew that one closed-mouth kiss in a park didn’t mean that they should have sex.

He knew that if Kuroo didn’t want him there, it would ruin the relationship they had hesitantly built.

He knew that it was mostly on his side deciding if things happened.

He knew Kuroo was two years older than him and that he would be going to university at the end of the school year.

He knew they weren’t a normal couple.

He also knew that they were soulmates.

There had to be something right about taking a forward step with someone fate or destiny decided was your perfect match.

They were already in sync with their cycles.

They were alpha and omega.

It had to work out.

Or so Kei kept telling himself as he walked. Over and over. He wanted to be making the right decision—he wanted this fear that he was making a mistake to go away. He wanted another soft kiss from Kuroo and one of his Cheshire Cat smiles over his shoulder.

There was something addicting about the alpha—more than just his juniper scent.

“Tsukishima, are you okay?” Akaashi put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” he glanced up from the sidewalk momentarily.

“If you want to back out, Kuroo will never know. You can stay at my house for a week—or you might make it back to Miyagi before your heat starts.”

“There’s no shame in being scared, Tsukki.” Bokuto added in. “If you want to wait, it’s fine. You guys just became soulmates. There’s no rush.”

“I—I want to do this. I’m just overthinking everything like usual.”

“Tsukishima,” Akaashi admonished softly, “if you have any doubt, we shouldn’t do this. I don’t want you to be hurt. If something happens that wouldn’t normally outside of a heat or rut, it could ruin your relationship. It’s delicate at this early stage. I don’t want you guys to hate each other.”

“We’ll be fine.” Tsukishima held the pillow a little tighter. “I’m sure of it.”

“This is Kuroo’s house.” Bokuto pointed up at the two-story. “You ready to see him?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Kei walked up the short walkway to the door and rang the doorbell.

He could hear footsteps from inside before the door swung open.

“Tsukki?” Kuroo stood frozen in the doorway as his eyes roved over the omega. “What are you doing here?”

Like a knife in his heart. Tsukishima stumbled over his words as he tried to explain why he was there. “I came down for—to see—to the—”

He held up the pillow helplessly.

“Why are Bokuto and Akaashi here?”

“We picked Tsukishima up from the train station so we could show him how to get to your house. It’s a surprise.” Keiji stated rather coldly with narrowed eyes.

“Surprise, bro!” Bokuto cheered. “Aren’t you excited?”

“Surprised is one way to put it.” He leaned against the doorway.

Tsukishima stared fixedly at the ground hoping that the moment would end—that he’d be let into the house and everything would be fine.

“I thought it might be nice to spend this week with you.”

“That’s an awfully big step for you.” Kuroo pursed his lips.

Kei didn’t reply. He clutched the pillow harder and he was worried he might burst his new acquisition.

“We’re supposed to be soulmates, right?” He whispered.

“Come on in.”

Kuroo stepped back and hesitantly let Tsukishima into his family’s house. Kei swallowed hard and toed off his shoes in the genkan before stepping further into the house. In the main sitting room, he noticed Kenma curled up in the couch cushions and blankets. The omega looked up with a bored expression on his face before he turned back to his handheld gaming device. It felt like a hand wrapped in barbed wire wrapped itself around Tsukishima’s heart and squeezed.

“Ano, is this okay?”

“Is what okay?”

“Me, being here.”

“You’re asking me how I feel about you showing up out of the blue?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say about this.” Kuroo turned around to face him with arms folded. “To be honest, I’m not exactly comfortable with the idea.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize.”

“We’ve barely been on two dates. How does one innocent kiss turn into you showing up in Tokyo just before your heat?”

“After our last date, I came to terms with us being soulmates.” Tsukishima inhaled shakily. “I—I thought this would throw us into our relationship.”

“Are you unaware of what happens when an alpha and omega share a heat together?”

The blond blushed. “Yes, I’ve had biology.”

“We haven’t even discussed this. It’s hardly appropriate this early in our relationship.”

Kei glanced at the couch. “What about—”

“Kenma? Kenma always helps me with my ruts. It makes them easier to get through.”

Tsukishima swallowed hard—images he didn’t want to see flooded his mind and he gripped the edge of the doorway.

“Oh, I see. I didn’t realize that’s what your relationship was like. I thought you explained it differently.”

Kenma looked up in surprise and his eyebrows crinkled together.

“Tsukishima,” he tried to placate. “I think you’re misunderstanding what Kuro meant.”

“I understand well enough. It makes sense. I’m such an idiot.”

“Tsukishima, really, please listen to what I’m going to say.” Kenma put his video game to the side and reached out a hand. The taller omega flinched away and put his hand on the doorknob.

“I get it, really. I shouldn’t have come to Tokyo.” Kei pulled the door open and fled out into the sunshine. He barreled past a surprised Bokuto and Akaashi, with tears trailing down his cheeks.

“Tsukki!” Kuroo called out the doorway.

“What did you do to him?” Akaashi snarled.

“I didn’t—”

“Bullshit.” The omega took off after the other to try and find him before he got himself into a place he didn’t want to be while in pre-heat.

“You made him cry, Kuroo.” Bokuto folded his arms across his chest and leveled the other alpha with a glare.

“I didn’t mean to, Bo, you have to believe me.”

“Your omega came from Miyagi to spend his heat with you.”

“I know that—but we’re not ready.”

“Yeah, that much is obvious.” Bokuto bit his lip and looked down at the sidewalk. “I better go find Akaashi and Tsukki and make sure they’re safe.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“I think it’s best that you don’t.” Bokuto turned on his heel and headed back off down the street.

“I should leave too.” Kenma pat him on the back. “Just move the food and water into your room, and you’ll be fine.”

“Kenma.”

“Kuro, you had a great opportunity. Wrong timing, but whenever I’m around it gets ruined. The only way you can come back from this if I’m not at your house during your rut.”

“And if that doesn’t help?”

“Then you’re gonna have to put in a lot of extra effort.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I was digging through my phone and I found a note saved on my phone of a scene I wrote for this fic clear back in July of 2019. When I looked at the original properties of the Word Document I write in, I found that I started it in May of 2019 and didn't start posting it until November. I think that's a testament of just how long I will sit on one idea once I have it.


	10. Chapter 10

“Tsukishima?” Akaashi called through the neighborhood. “Where did he run to?”

“Did you find him?” Bokuto ran up behind him.

“No. I don’t know where he would’ve gone.” Akaashi turned in circles at the crossroads.

“We have to find him and get him back to your house.” The alpha gripped his boyfriend’s arms and held him in place as he scented the air. “There’s a small hint of strawberries coming from the south.”

They both immediately headed in the direction and found Tsukishima sitting in a small alleyway between two houses on the ground. His face was pressed into his pillow, glasses askew.

“Tsukishima,” Keiji set a hand on top of the omega’s head. “Let’s get back to my house. You can make a nest in my room and then we’ll get you back home at the end of the week.”

“Okay.”

“Come on,” he helped the omega stand. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Soup.”

“Any particular kind?”

Tsukishima shook his head.

“Bokuto-san, can you think of a good soup for dinner?”

“I’ll find some takeout and bring it over. Will you be okay walking home on your own?”

“We’ll be fine.” Akaashi reassured. “It’s best if it’s just the two of us for a little while.”

“Okay, I’ll see you when I have dinner.”

“I have lots of food and water I can give you during this week. I’ll still have to go to school though.” Keiji wound his fingers through the other omega’s and gently led him through the streets.

“I understand. I’m interrupting your life enough as it is.”

“I’ll take the interruption. I need more omega friends around.”

“I don’t know if I want to come back to Tokyo once I leave.” Tsukishima whispered and loosened his hold on his pillow.

“You don’t have to. I couldn’t imagine wanting to return either. We’ll plan a weekend where I travel up to Miyagi.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Akaashi’s house was nice and the teen had a fairly large room. It allowed more than enough room for Tsukishima to set up a temporary nest that would get him through the next week.

He felt awkward knowing that he would be spending his heat at another omega’s house, but it was the best option since he didn’t feel like getting on the train back to Miyagi and hoping he had enough time to get home.

The second year left him alone in the room while he addressed supplies and waited for Bokuto to arrive with their dinner.

Tsukishima pulled out his phone, and even though it was early in the afternoon, he dialed his best friend’s number and hope he would be available to pick up.

“Hey, Tsukki! How’s it going?”

“Not good,” his voice was nasally after his mini cry fest.

“What happened?”

“Kuroo didn’t want me here. He said it was a mistake—then Kenma was there I just kind of put things together. He made it sound like they were like how you and I are, but it wasn’t the same thing at all.”

“Tsukki, I’m sorry.”

“I should’ve known from the beginning. I just thought it would work out a little better.”

“Are you coming home? Do you need someone to pick you up from the station? Practice hasn’t started yet—I bet the whole team would come and get you.”

“No,” he shook his head even though Yamaguchi couldn’t see it. “I’m going to stay at Akaashi-san’s for the week, then come home.

“Call me if anything happens okay? I can be there when you get back too.”

“I’ll let you know. Right now, I’m fine, Bokuto-san and Akaashi-san are taking care of me.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that. I’ve got to go to practice now. Text me if you have moments of clarity.”

“I will.”

He hung up the call just as Bokuto arrived with soup. Tsukishima wasn’t particularly hungry after their lunch, but he forced down a small helping of it. Since it was a plainer soup bordering on regular miso, Akaashi stored the leftovers in the fridge and told Kei he’d heat it up if the omega needed any food during his heat.

Once dinner was done, Tsukishima returned upstairs, but the couple stayed downstairs talking for a while longer. Snippets of their conversation drifted upstairs.

“It’s best if you don’t come over for the next week.” _Akaashi_.

“I can do that. I’ll still see you at school.” _Bokuto_.

“I hope Tsukishima will be okay.”

“Only time will tell.” Soft footsteps in the direction of the front door, opened moments later with a hard squeak. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know if anything bad happens.”

“I will.”

* * *

**Bokuto**

**Is Tsukki okay?**

**Don’t know, haven’t been over at Akaashi’s. He doesn’t say anything at school.**

**Thanks.**

There were one-hundred other things Kuroo wanted to say—to text—clarify. Anything that Bokuto could pass on, but if it didn’t come directly from him it wouldn’t do any good. He figured it wouldn’t do much even if Tetsurō could find a way to say it directly to his face.

Kuroo pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to figure out how this became such a fucked-up situation.

They were long over any of the issues at the start—Tsukishima was certainly more inclined toward his omega nature. That just left the more recent events.

The two dates they went on.

First, it was great being surprised by Tsukishima turning up on the weekend. He certainly had fun at the ice-cream shop with the other third years and he enjoyed sight seeing around metropolitan Tokyo. He even gave Kuroo the pass that would allow him to travel up to Miyagi and see him for another date. Which he did.

Their second date was a lot quieter, there wasn’t a lot the omega seemed interested in doing in Sendai. It had ended with a kiss, though, and Kuroo thought their relationship was finally going in the right direction.

He had no way of predicting that the omega would suddenly show up in Tokyo to spend his heat with an alpha—especially when that part of biology involved a mature activity viewed as a primarily reproductive action.

Kuroo rolled over on his bed and stared at the wall.

Yes, he messed up by acting so defensive around Tsukishima, but they hadn’t talked about doing anything like this anytime soon. He realized that the omega once again misunderstood why Kenma was there. He never once had sex with Kenma in the past and he didn’t have plans to in the future. Tetsurō always had a hard time taking care of himself during his rut, so his childhood friend took it upon himself to make sure he didn’t die during the week.

Tired of overthinking what happened, he rolled over onto his stomach and groaned into his pillow. He needed to get some money from his dad, or maybe his grandparents, and make a trip to see the omega.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know how you feel about their relationship. I'm pretty content with how I'm developing it--mainly because I think Tsukishima needs to do a lot of growing up before he's really ready to accept Kuroo as his mate. I hope I can convey that well over the next several chapters as we move through this space.


	11. Chapter 11

Tsukishima’s scent was soured with sorrow the entire week. Every day, Akaashi would come home from school and open the window to get rid of the smell. He made sure the omega had enough food and water in him, but the omega didn’t participate much in normal heat activities. He rode out the waves in tears, curled up around the pillows of the nest.

It was certainly the most depressing heat Akaashi saw an omega go through.

At the end of the week, Bokuto came over to help them pack up for the trip back to Miyagi. Everything was washed and tucked into Tsukishima’s bags. His new pillow acted as a carry-on for the train that he would keep on his lap for the duration of the ride.

The two escorted him back to the train and he boarded with a small goodbye.

“Do you think he’s going to be okay?” Bokuto watched the train pull out of the station.

“I think—maybe, he was desperate to prove something to himself too soon. We’ll see how he is in January.”

* * *

Tsukishima stepped off the train and made his way out of the station with hunched shoulders. Outside the station, Akiteru leaned against his car waiting for his little brother. Kei marched slowly over to the vehicle and opened the passenger door.

“You okay?”

“No.” Kei sat down in the car. “I’m done with this stupid soulmate shit.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Never.” He held the pillow closer.

“Did you buy that pillow in Tokyo?” Akiteru started the car.

“I did—my friends took me to a nice supply store and I really liked this pillow.” He buried his face in the soft fabric and breathed slowly to stave off the tears.

“I’m glad you had some good friends to take care of you down there.”

It was a short drive back home and he was thankful that his brother distracted his parents so he could slide upstairs without too much fanfare. He stayed quiet for most of the night and when Kuroo made an attempt to call him in the evening, he declined the call and muted his text conversation so he wouldn’t see any of the messages.

* * *

“I think he blocked me.” Kuroo admitted once he was back at school on Monday. He kept staring at his phone on a particular message where there was a whole screen of texts from himself to another person with no replies.

“Can’t say I blame him.” Yaku bit into his sandwich as their team ate on the roof. “Kenma told me how things went down—why were you so defensive?”

“We’d never talked about having sex before—I didn’t exactly know what to do.”

“He makes a fair point. If I remember correctly, you both only went on two dates, right?” Kai clarified as he ate out of his bento.

“Yes! And at the end of the second one we shared a very innocent kiss. It was more like a peck—there was no tongue—there was nothing that would lead anyone to just jumping into having an intimate relationship with someone.” Kuroo leaned back against the wall.

“Personally, I don’t think either of them necessarily did anything wrong.” Lev chimed in.

“How do you work that one out?” Yamamoto looked up from his lunch.

“Well—they both have valid points and reasons from what I can tell. I mean, Tsukishima came down to spend his heat with his soulmate, right? There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem in it comes from how he approached the situation. He showed up suddenly as a surprise—which in a different relationship would be welcome. In this situation though, he hadn’t talked about doing that kind of thing with Kuroo and never got his consent. That means that Kuroo isn’t in the wrong either because he didn’t consent to the situation and while he didn’t handle it the best, he was in shock. I think that the both of them happened to be put into the wrong situation with wrong ideals.” The bean pole immediately went back to his lunch.

“Lev is right,” Kenma glanced up from his game, “for once.”

“I don’t know—” Yaku started, “they’re soulmates. Tsukishima was taking a pretty big leap. I think Kuroo could’ve been a little kinder.”

“I’m not going to deny that, Yaku, but I don’t want to hurt him.”

“How on earth would you be hurting him by accepting his offer?”

“What if we’re not compatible during our heat and rut? What if at the end of the week he regretted everything? Yes, that is what he thought he wanted in the moment—but there was no guarantee. Imagine if during the heat of things, I put a claiming mark on him. We wouldn’t be able to be separated from each other with the distance like we are now. If at the end of the week he didn’t like what happened, I would feel like shit because it’s my job to take care of him and make sure he’s safe. No, I didn’t go about explaining it to him in the right way and I didn’t pick up on what he was saying about Kenma—but at the end of the day, I know that I did it all because I didn’t want him to end up hating me. We already had a misunderstanding from the beginning because me not taking care of myself forced him to present early. I didn’t want us to be completely broken. Though, if I’m honest, right now, I can’t think of anything that would fix what I’ve done. I do know that if any of that did happen, it would be one-thousand times worse.”

“Are you going to go see him?” Kai put his chopsticks away in his lunch container.

“I want to, but my dad won’t give me my allowance ahead of time. I have to wait until I have money for the train ticket.”

“That’s hard.” Yamamoto threw his trash at the bin with a flick of his wrist and Inuoka politely clapped when it went in.

“I’m going to try and text Daichi and see if he can get Tsukishima to talk to me.”

* * *

“Kuroo’s asking to talk to you.” Daichi pointed at his phone in the changing room. Tsukishima glanced up at him before he turned back to changing.

“Tell him I don’t want to talk.”

“Are you sure there wasn’t some sort of misunderstanding you two could clear up?” The captain tried to placate. “I hate that you’re so upset by this.”

“If you hate it, then don’t mention it. I’ll be focused for games. I have nothing to say to Kuroo-san. He made his decisions pretty clear.” Tsukishima shoved his bag into the spot on the shelf and pulled out his volleyball shoes.

Daichi opened his mouth to protest, but Suga put his hand on the alpha’s arm and he stopped. “I’ll just tell him we’re all busy right now.”

“Couldn’t care less.” Kei finished tying his shoes and left the room.

“Yamaguchi, what happened?” Nishinoya pulled on his own practice shirt.

“Apparently when Tsukki got there, Kenma was there too. Kuroo-san told him that Kenma always helped out with his ruts. He ended up staying at Akaashi-san’s last week.”

“I’m having trouble picturing it.” Suga put a hand on his mouth. “Though, come to think of it, they were pretty close at all the training camps.”

“For right now,” Asahi interrupted, “I think we should support Tsukishima’s wishes and focus on getting through qualifiers for spring interhigh.”

“That is a fair assessment.” Ennoshita agreed. “We don’t know all the details, but we also don’t need to know them. We aren’t as close to Tsukishima as Yamaguchi is, we’re his teammates. If we want to win, we should focus on what we need to do to make that happen, not some external romance affairs.”

“To interhigh.” Kinoshita and Narita agreed immediately.

Everyone else muttered their own agreement with the situation before they headed out to practice. They hoped Tsukishima could pull himself together for their matches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... uh... accidentally posted chapter 13 when I meant to post this chapter earlier. Sorry if any of you are thrown off by that!


	12. Chapter 12

It was as if Tsukishima never went to Tokyo. He was growing naturally as a player from the point he had before attempting to further his relationship with Kuroo and his personality didn’t suffer at all. It was to a degree that it bothered Sugawara that the omega wasn’t bothered in the least by his soulmate’s rejection.

“Tsukishima, are you sure you’re okay with everything?”

“We’re facing off against two non-terribly famous schools the next couple of days—I think I’m fine. I’m confident I’ll be able to make a few blocks on them.”

“That’s not what I’m walking about.” Suga crossed his arms. “Daichi and I are like the parents on this team—I’m worried about you.”

“I think you should be worried about more important things than a love-life that isn’t your own.” Kei set down his water bottle and walked back to the court.

“Sorry Suga-senpai—he’s really touchy about talking about it. He won’t open up to me about much either. I think he’s said all that did happen. Kenma was at Kuroo’s house, Kuroo got defensive, he spent his heat at Akaashi-san’s. Any other feelings he has on the matter he hasn’t told me. Akiteru mentioned that he said he was giving up on soulmates altogether—so, that might be why.” Yamaguchi stepped up behind the omega and watched as Tsukishima perfectly timed a jump to one of Asahi’s spikes.

“That’s why I’m worried about him. Soulmates are incredibly important to the alpha and omega dynamic. Tsukishima can’t simply find another mate anymore—if he never met Kuroo and never synced up, sure, he could potentially date and mate with anyone he wanted. Their cycles would eventually sync up, particularly after a mating mark is put on the neck—but now Tsukishima’s heat will never sync up with another alpha’s. His body knows that Kuroo exists and that he’s his alpha.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Yes,” Suga glanced at him. “I’m sorry if this is boring since you haven’t presented yet.”

“No, it’s interesting. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the opportunity to have a soulmate. I could be a plain boring beta and be stuck finding someone on my own.”

“You could—but we’ll find out in November, right?”

“Yeah! Only a couple months away. I’m pretty excited.”

“Did you know that there are rumors of soulmates being able to smell each other before presenting?”

“There is?”

“I think it’s more of an old wives’ tale, but a few soulmate couple have claimed that they could smell each other weeks before presenting. Only ever a couple—but that could be perpetuated simply because already presented people can smell when someone is approaching their presentation.”

“You can smell it?”

“Yeah—I couldn’t on Tsukishima since it was so sudden, but Hinata’s was faint. We could start to smell him a couple weeks before he presented and so we sat down with him and let him know he’d be an omega and to prepare accordingly. We might have something similar with you and Kageyama when you get closer to presenting.”

“I hope you’ll be able to tell me.” Yamaguchi saw the coach wave for him across the gym. “I’ll ask you some more questions about soulmates later!”

“Of course.” Suga waved him off and watched Daichi bend low to receive one of Tanaka’s spikes. He smiled and sent a small waft of encouraging marigold the captain’s way. His posture loosened immediately and he received the ball cleanly.

“Thanks, Suga!” The captain called.

“Anytime!”

* * *

They won. That was the most important thing. They won both of the games that would take them to the final prefectural qualifiers in October.

Tsukishima couldn’t confirm whether he was happy about the progression or disappointed.

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi cheered as he jumped onto the taller omega. “We made it through! We’re going to face off against the best schools for the spot to represent Miyagi in Tokyo!”

“You barely played and you’re more excited than I am.”

“Ah yeah,” Tadashi scratched his cheek. “I’m happy that we have the opportunity to prove how strong we are—especially after we put in all that work over the summer.”

“I suppose it would be good to shove it in their faces.”

Kuroo’s smirking face flashed through his mind when he thought about blocking.

“I’m not sure I want to go to Tokyo.”

“Is this about Kuroo-san?”

“Yes and no.” He sat down on the ground in the hallway and Yamaguchi joined him. “I’m not sure I want to put in enough effort to actually get us to Tokyo—but at the same time I do just so I can shove it in Kuroo-san’s face. I also just don’t want to see him. Ever. I don’t want to be forced to meet him and hear him give me more explanations about what happened. I’m tired of being told that I misunderstood, again.”

“Okay, so you don’t want to see him—but what if you could see him and show him that you don’t care? That you’re better without him.”

Tsukishima gave him a puzzled look.

“Your brother told me that you want to give up on soulmates. I don’t think that’s a bad idea. You should get out there and find something that you enjoy in the way you enjoy it—then, shove that in Kuroo-san’s face when you see him. Showing him that you’re happy and fine without him is the best metaphorical bitch slap you can hit anyone with.” Yamaguchi grinned. “All we need to do is show him you are happy.”

“How are you going to make me happy enough to show him I’m better without a soulmate?” Kei leaned back against the wall.

“That is a problem we may have to consult our teammates about.”

“Yeah, let’s not do that.”

* * *

Kuroo was frustrated.

He understood his dad couldn’t give him an advance on his allowance.

He knew he would need to save his money so he could travel up to Miyagi.

He didn’t expect it to take so long.

He didn’t have enough money to travel to Miyagi in September. He tried to pinch every where he could. Tetsurō even talked to his grandparents and scrounged all of the change in his grandma’s purse, but he couldn’t get enough together for a train ticket.

He tried explaining to his dad why it was so important for him to go to Miyagi, but his father didn’t have any extra money to give him—and he claimed to understand his son’s concern about fixing his relationship with the omega.

Kuroo was falling apart slowly as the months progressed. He had his own qualifiers coming up that he needed to focus on—they’d be playing against Nōhebi and Fukurodani. He needed to focus, but everything kept coming back to Tsukishima.

Akaashi wouldn’t tell him anything about the omega from the time that he left—if he even knew anything. Bokuto was unclear on if he did.

Pissed off almost constantly, Kuroo tore through their practices with exhausting ferocity that left him ready to cry at the end of the day.

Late in October, he picked up his water bottle and took a long drink.

“Kuroo, are you okay?” Yaku stared up at him from his own resting position.

“I’ll be fine. I think.”

Yaku gave him a disbelieving look and their conversation was interrupted by a surprised noise from Kenma who had his phone out during practice.

“What is it?” Lev tried to read over the omega’s shoulder.

“Karasuno made it.”

“What?” Kuroo grabbed the phone and stared at the message from Hinata.

“They won against Shiratorizawa—they’re the Miyagi representative for spring interhigh.” Kenma gave a meaningful glance with Yaku.

Kuroo had a plan.

* * *

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima said on the bus as he stared at his bandaged hand. “I found what I can rub in Kuroo-san’s face if we see them in Tokyo.”

“What is it?”

“I really love volleyball.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *embarrassment ensues* I decided to get a ko-fi [ko-fi.com/sifoote]. I decided to us it as a medium to interact and update you with snippets of what I'm working on. For free! No need to pay me. You may also find my original novel there. O.O ;)
> 
> I'll be uploading pictures in the morning of my nails that I decorated for St. Patrick's Day. I put on fake nails and discovered I can't take out my contacts with them... Luckily my mom was nice and patient and helped me get them out, even if it felt like she was trying to remove my eyeball.
> 
> If you didn't see my post in "The Last Seven Years" there will be another update next week, but this fic (along with all others except "Omega" which is finished) may be going on a short-term break while I deal with the craziness that is my unstable job in the times of COVID-19. Yay for tutoring?


	13. Chapter 13

Kuroo swore he wasn’t like this—eyes glued to the screen as he watched the recordings from the Karasuno versus Shiratorizawa game.

Tsukishima jumped at the right time, Ushijima swung into his spike and the ball slammed down on Shiratorizawa’s side of the court. The blond clenched his first, lifted it high in the air, and yelled—barely audible through the recording. The smile on his face was like breathing for the first time in a long while.

Kuroo rewound the video and watched the moment over and over again.

That was _his_ omega. He grinned. After watching that moment around twenty-five times, Kenma made him move on from the moment—the rest of the team eager to see the match replay. It went into the fifth set; Tsukishima went out of the game injured—the commentators said Ushijima’s spike ripped his fingers open and they were bleeding.

Kuroo knelt on the floor in front of the screen, waiting to see if the omega would come back to the court or how they would win without him there.

The game pulled to match point for Shiratorizawa—and even though Kuroo knew that Karasuno won—he felt his breath catch in his throat.

Tsukishima was back—at match point he came running into the gymnasium with his fingers bandaged and he immediately approached the coach. He was put back into the game with an injury and then… ever so slowly, the points reaching into the twenties, they won.

Karasuno won.

“Wow.” Kai’s audible emotion broke the team out of their reverie. The room filled with heavy pants as though they played the game themselves.

“We need to play them at nationals.” Kenma’s eyes looked up at Kuroo with the excitement he held only when buying a new video game.

“Yeah, we do.”

* * *

Kuroo’s rut was by far the worst one he experienced. Even worse than the one directly after Tsukishima’s visit to Tokyo.

He couldn’t get the omega out of his mind. He kept replaying the way Tsukishima left in August—as well as the scenes from the match against Shiratorizawa. It was hot watching the omega block a spike from the well-known alpha as if it were nothing.

He hated that he felt this way and couldn’t do anything about it.

Tetsurō rolled over onto his stomach and pressed his face into his pillow. He made a low, annoyed sound and rutted his hips against the bed helplessly. Why did he have to keep thinking about something he had no opportunity to fix? It sucked.

He hoped Tsukishima’s heat wasn’t as rough on him.

* * *

If murder wasn’t illegal, Kuroo would be highly considering actually taking out Daishō Suguru.

Yaku glared across the net at them and their team gave easy and kind smiles in return.

_Damn snakes_.

They played a dirty game. Kuroo scowled and readied himself for the next serve. He had to make sure that all of his receives and plays were as clean as they could be—then Nohebi would have nothing to use to turn the referee against them.

Winning this game was the line between going to nationals in January and hopefully playing with Karasuno, or staying out of the competition altogether. He needed to be there—he needed to see Tsukishima and make everything right.

There was a lot riding on their game.

* * *

Kuroo sat in the locker room, face pressed into his hands as he realized the implications of their match.

They would be going to nationals.

They would have the chance to be against Karasuno in an official match for all of Japan to watch.

He was going to see Tsukishima.

“Kuroo, you okay?” Kai sat down on the bench next to him.

“I’m fine—excited—thrilled—I’m running out of synonyms.” He pulled away from his hands, eyes red rimmed as he fought off tears.

“Is this about Tsukishima?”

“Yes, but it’s nothing major. I’m merely excited that we’ll get the opportunity to face off against Karasuno in January. We’ll have to train harder over the next month.”

“I’m sure Nekomata-sensei is already in that mindset as well.” The fellow alpha laughed. “Are you going to be okay?”

“We’ll find out.” Tetsurō breathed in deeply through his nose.

“Let us know if we can help with anything at all.” Kai clapped him on the back, then headed for the door.

Kuroo pulled out his phone and typed out a quick message—even if it wouldn’t be seen—he wanted Tsukishima to know.

**We won today. We’re the third representative for Tokyo. We almost lost.**

He stared at the message for a long while, wondering if Tsukishima would even see it or if he had completely blocked his number from going through. He wanted to call him in person and give him the news, but he had even less hopes that the omega would pick up than he did that he might read a text message.

Just as he moved to put his phone away, he saw the message scoot up the screen by a millimeter and he immediately pulled it back up to his face.

**READ 3:27 PM**

Tsukishima read the message. Kuroo felt his heart stop.

He acknowledged the message. He wasn’t blocked completely from the omega’s life.

There was no other notice that Kei did anything with the news, but there was hope lingering in Kuroo’s heart that the omega didn’t hate him.

* * *

“Tsukki, what are you looking at?” Yamaguchi asked as he pulled his shirt off to get changed for practice that afternoon.

“Nothing.” He turned the phone off and shoved it into his bag. “It was something dumb someone sent me.”

The newly presented omega made a soft noise of understanding before he quickly changed into his practice gear. He bent down on the floor to tie his shoes. “It’s almost December. It feels like we’ll be at nationals before I can even blink.”

“Do you think we’ll manage to win?” Kinoshita blinked over at the male as he pulled on his gym shorts.

“I think we can grab a few games.” Tsukishima answered as he pulled off his school shirt. “I’m not sure we’ll be able to take the entire nationals in a sweep. We are going to try for that obviously—it’d be stupid not to.”

“You’ve changed since the Shiratorizawa match.” Hinata observed on his way in the door.

“I hate that.” Kei frowned.

Yamaguchi laughed as he followed the other omega out the door. “You know you love volleyball, Tsukki!”

At the end of practice, Takeda came running into the gym looking as haggard as he did when he first announced their match during golden week against Nekoma.

“Kageyama’s been invited to the National Youth Training Camp.”

Everyone was in an uproar, but it was only after a small discussion that the advisor dropped another bombshell on them.

“And Tsukishima-kun has also received an invite to a training camp put on by Shiratorizawa—the Miyagi Intensive Training Camp.”

“You’re kidding.” Tsukishima stood there, mouth ajar at the revelation.

“I hope you both have fun attending and learn lots of new techniques you can share with us.” Takeda gave them a wide grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 4th season OVAs did not do the Nekoma vs Nohebi game justice. I'm still upset by that.
> 
> Please consider reading my original novel and letting me know what you think. I've updated it up to chapter 10! inkitt.com/stories/2199


	14. Chapter 14

Kuroo finally had enough money to go to Miyagi. He considered texting Tsukishima before heading up, but he had a couple rest days before their all intensive training started for nationals and he wanted to try and surprise them in hopes of catching him the easiest. His team told him it was a shitty thing to do.

He ignored them—he had to see Kei in person and he knew the omega would try to run if he had warning.

On a rare rest day, Kuroo took the two-hour train ride to Miyagi and walked the slow trek to Karasuno. He wondered what the team would say when they saw them. He wondered what Tsukishima would confront him with.

At the school, he could hear a team practicing in the open gyms and headed toward them immediately. He hoped it wasn’t a different sport and he was pleased when he heard the slam of a spike on the court, followed by Daichi’s voice:

“Make sure you’re not starting the run-up too soon! We need to sync together.”

“Okay, let’s run it one more time. Suga, see if you can set the ball a little slower—we don’t want you to get called for a holding foul of course, but the longer you have a hold on the ball, the blockers won’t know where it’s going.” Ukai called out across the gym. “On the whistle.”

A moment later, the whistle blew. Kuroo heard someone throw up the ball for Suga to set and then the smack as it was set down on the other side of the court.

“Good call, Suga. I want to see more of that at nationals.”

“Ukai, I’ll be right back.”

“Of course, sensei.”

Takeda stepped out of the gym and made a direct beeline for Kuroo. The alpha swore under his breath, realizing too late that he was upwind and his scent carried to the gym long before he made it there.

“What are you doing here Kuroo?”

“I wanted to come and apologize to Tsukishima for something that happened back in August—I didn’t have the money to come up here before and he hasn’t answered my messages.” Kuroo put a hand on the back of his neck.

“Well, I’m sorry, but Tsukishima-kun isn’t here.”

“He’s not?”

“No—he’s at a training camp. You can come check the gym if you want—I’m sorry you wasted your money on a trip here.”

“It’s not a waste, I can find a few things to do and my dad likes the souvenirs.”

“If you don’t mind, it would be nice to say hello. I’m looking forward to playing you guys at Nationals.”

Inside the gym, Suga slapped his hand over Yamaguchi’s mouth and pulled him back toward the supply closet. The younger’s arms flailed as he momentarily fought against the momentum of the pull. Ukai looked curiously between the students and opened his mouth to say something when Daichi coughed.

“We’re protecting Tsukishima—something happened between them and we want to support our teammate first.”

“Understood, I’ll do my best and let sensei know as well.”

“Uh, hey, guys.” Kuroo greeted from the doorway.

Daichi’s face pulled into a tight smile. “Hey, as you’ve heard Tsukishima isn’t here.”

“Yeah, it’s disappointing, but I shouldn’t have shown up without confirming first.” Kuroo shoved his hands in his pockets and sniffed the gym air. “Did someone else present recently? It smells like cinnamon and sugar.”

“Ah, yeah, Yamaguchi had a birthday.” Nishinoya admitted. “He presented as an alpha.”

“An alpha smells like sugar?”

“We had the neighborhood team in earlier today, there’s a few omegas on the team.” Ukai quickly covered. He had a hand on Takeda’s arm to keep him from speaking out.

“Cinnamon is a popular alpha scent.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Kuroo started, “but where is Tsukishima?”

“He got invited to a training camp.” Takeda provided happily.

“He didn’t tell us where it is though.” Ennoshita shot out with a quick glare in their adviser’s direction. “The information was given to him directly—it’s a special invitation youth training.”

“I see.” Kuroo’s heart plummeted to his feet. “I’m sorry to have bothered you guys.”

He bowed out of the gym and walked off school property. Kuroo clenched his jaw and pulled out his phone.

**Kenma**

**I’m fucking screwed.**

His friend didn’t reply immediately and Kuroo boarded the train and took it a few stops back to the center of Sendai for some shopping. He had to make the trip semi-worth the cash he shelled out for a ticket.

Kuroo didn’t find much in leu of things he wanted to take home to his family or friends. Everything around him had dull colors and things sucked. He messed up and didn’t have a way of talking it through with the only other person it affected.

He glanced up out the window of the konbini and saw the retired third years from Shiratorizawa leading a team of runners through the streets. Kuroo’s eyebrow quirked in curiosity when he noticed Ushijima more toward the back end of the pack and then even more when he realized that it wasn’t only Shiratorizawa out the window. Tsukishima was with them, along with a handful of others from other schools in Miyagi.

He dropped the magazine and tore out of the shop after them.

_Karasuno fucking lied_.

Then Kuroo stopped in the middle of the street, panting. People stared at him as he realized a fundamental truth behind that lie.

_Karasuno protected him from me_.

His lower lip trembled as he felt hot tears stain his cheeks. He wiped them away and made a slow progression toward Shiratorizawa (courtesy of a map on his phone) instead of the frantic run.

He waited outside the school gates, hidden behind a bush for the camp to leave for the night. He only hoped that they weren’t receiving accommodations on the school property or he’d be really screwed.

“You’re so mean, Tsukki! You should at least help Koganegawa instead of chastising him.” Hinata’s voice filtered out of the gates first.

“Why should I?”

“He’s clearly struggling.”

“And that’s my problem?”

Their footsteps stopped. “Tsukki, do you smell Kuroo-san?”

“I think you’re imagining things.”

“But—”

“Hyakuzawa has a similar smell, you’re probably just catching a whiff of him from earlier. He was sweating pretty hard after the run.”

“You’re right.” Hinata skipped out of the gates ahead of the blond. “Do you want to stop somewhere for dinner?”

“I wasn’t the one that broke into the training camp without an invitation.”

“You don’t eat enough food.” The smaller omega scolded. “Even Kuroo-san noticed that.”

Tsukishima scowled. “I eat plenty, thank you.”

Kuroo made to stand up from his hiding spot and call out to them when Tsukishima’s phone rang. The blond pulled it out and immediately answered the call.

“Yamaguchi.” A smile graced the omega’s face and Kuroo felt a cannonball go right through his chest.

_I get it_.

**I think I finally understand how it feels to be on Tsukishima’s side of this fucked up relationship.**

**What happened?**

**Yamaguchi presented as an alpha—I happened to find Tsukishima after I was told Karasuno didn’t know where he was and he got a call from his friend. I’ve never seen him look that happy.**

Kuroo grit his teeth together.

**I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to him.**

**I know that because I exist and Tsukishima and I have synced up cycle wise that, even if he wants to be with Yamaguchi that way, they won’t sync up… but it hurts. It hurts bad knowing that I can be replaced. I don’t want to be something he can throw away. Is this how he felt too? What do I do?**

**Wait till nationals. Prove you’ve changed.**

**I don’t know if I can_._**

* * *

“Do you think he’s far enough away?” Nishinoya lifted himself up against the bars on the gym window while Tanaka leaned around the doorway to watch the alpha leave.

“Probably.”

“Why’d you lie about Yamaguchi-kun being an alpha?” Takeda’s confused face was almost amusing.

Suga and Tadashi stepped back out of the supply closet.

“Kuroo-san hurt Tsukishima—we don’t know how or why, but our job is to protect Tsukki. If that means lying to Kuroo about my presenting, it’s for the best.” Yamaguchi bowed. “Ukai-san, thank you for going along with the lie.”

“I’d rather have a team that trusts each other on the court than one that’s truthful to one person. You earned Tsukishima’s trust today and that’s going to help pull us together as a team.” Ukai admitted. “I want to win at Nationals and if that means lying to Kuroo, I’d do it one-hundred times over for you guys.”

“Let’s put our focus on Nationals and ignore all talk of soulmates!” Takeda clapped his hands together.

Daichi put out a hand and the others joined in.

“Karasuno, fight!” They threw their hands into the air and then jumped back into practice with one-hundred and fifty percent focus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm rotating between this story and "Damn Pinch Server" for a couple weeks as I have chapters for it and this story.
> 
> Please check out my original novel and leave a review so I know how and where to improve: [Elementalists: Nine United](http://www.inkitt.com/stories/2199)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 6th Birthday to my dog, Cinnamon!

Nationals arrived.

Tsukishima unloaded his things from the bus so they could check into the hotel Nekomata-sensei lined up for them. Yamaguchi fell into line next to him and rattled on about the excitement of being at Nationals and his nerves about pinch serving. Once they were checked in and their things were in their rooms, Ukai and Takeda took them out to the warm-up gymnasium (also organized by Nekoma’s coach). After a few hours of practice, they headed back where Ukai showed him a video that Tsukishima would never admit that he did like—in part.

Daichi left Ennoshita in charge of the team and Suga hollered after him about being the Vice-Captain. Yamaguchi snickered at the response from Sawamura and Kei decided he wanted something to drink.

“Kageyama, where do you think you’re going?” Ennoshita called out the door of their room.

“For a run.”

“Ah! I haven’t gotten nearly enough exercise, let me come too!” Hinata sprinted past Ennoshita to Kageyama’s side.

“No way! No matter how you look at this, it’s a bad idea! It’s night time in Tokyo out there. You don’t know the city—and there’s gonna be people on the streets.” Ennoshita’s face crinkled in on itself as he considered the possibilities.

Tsukishima fiddled with the pokari sweat in his hands and prayed that the beta wouldn’t come to the conclusion he had a feeling he approached. When the second year whirled on him, the rejection came out of his mouth clean. “No can do.”

“I haven’t even said anything!”

“You’re going to tell me to go with them.”

“Don’t think I haven’t seen you fidgeting while we’ve been here. You want to do the same thing and get settled down too. Plus, you’ve been to Tokyo before.”

“And you really think I could keep up with those two idiots?” He adopted his classic smirk and dangled the bottle from the tips of his fingers in an attempt to intimidate Ennoshita. It didn’t work.

“Yes, I do.”

That was how Tsukishima found himself on an old bike, still in good shape, at nine o’clock at night on January fourth in Tokyo.

Annoyed that he ended up roped into their present situation, he pouted on the bicycle and played with the small basket situated at the front. Ennoshita thanked the inn owner in the background and the blond decided he needed some rules to go out with Kageyama and Hinata.

“Oi, idiots.” They turned to him. “When I say turn around and come back, we do it. Understood? If you don’t pay attention to me, I’ll make sure to abandon you somewhere public transport is really confusing so that you’ll have the hardest time making it back here. Not that you’ll even remember the address.”

The alpha and omega swallowed.

“Okay.” Hinata agreed reluctantly.

The trio took off into the night. Tsukishima kept a good pace on the bicycle behind them as they ran out onto the quiet streets. They were certainly quieter than Kei expected. Night life in Tokyo bustled with activity, but they were a little farther from the center of the city.

The breeze was nice and the omega didn’t hate the exercise. It was certainly settling more than just the excess energy in his body. He felt calmer—more collected about seeing Kuroo the next day. Tsukishima took his feet off the pedals and soared past the two runners.

“We’re turning back at the next block.”

“Osu!” They called in return.

* * *

“Why do you always drag us into your late-night snack runs?” Yaku complained as they wandered around the aisles of the closest konbini.

“Don’t act as if you’re not hungry too.” Kuroo laughed at the armful of snacks the omega had. “Kenma gets dragged along to just about everything I do.”

“This is why Tsukishima gets the wrong idea about you two.” Morisuke bent down to examine another shelf.

“Hey, Shōyō is outside.” Kenma had his video game lowered against the magazine stands. Kuroo joined him and saw Kageyama running alongside the ginger, before Tsukishima came into view on a small bike.

“What are they doing out this late?” Yaku dumped his snacks into a hand basket.

Kenma pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Hinata asking him what they were up to. He received an almost immediate reply of exercising because a few of them had too much energy to sleep.

Kuroo watched as Tsukishima lifted his feet from the pedals and sailed past the runners. He turned over his shoulder to call something back to them and they disappeared around the next corner.

“I can’t picture Tsukishima having too much energy.” Yaku picked up one of the magazines wrapped in plastic and tried to pull the pages apart to get a glimpse of the people framed on the pages.

“As an alpha, I’m insulted you would even consider that magazine, Yaku. _Ideal Alpha_. What a rag.”

“I’m allowed to window shop partners.”

“You pretend like our cute kōhai doesn’t exist.”

“If you like Lev so much, why don’t you date him?” He moved away from the magazines.

“I’m not the one that likes licorice so much.” Kuroo reached for a bag of chips.

“I can see it.” Kenma interrupted.

“Me dating Lev?” Kuroo’s left eyebrow shot up his forehead.

“Not that. Tsukishima, having excess energy. We all watched the game against Shiratorizawa. I think he changed during that game.”

“There’s only one way to find out for sure.” Yaku headed toward the front. “Time to eat our collection of snacks until we pass out.”

* * *

Karasuno’s first task of the day would be getting through the entrance ceremony and a single game in the afternoon. Forty teams would be eliminated on the first day—it was going to suck. Especially since the seeded teams would drop into the ranks the second day. They wouldn’t have a chance to get rid of the biggest contenders on the day they felt the most excited.

“We’re here!” Hinata shouted. “The stage where ‘the little giant’ played.”

“When ‘the little giant’ played, the tournament was held in Yoyogi.” Kageyama interjected.

Shōyō whirled around on him. “You shut up! What’s important is the mood!”

Tsukishima made to make a scathing reply when the air around them filled with juniper and other milder scents.

Instead, he choked on the air and Yamaguchi turned to him with a scared look on his face. He held out a hand which the omega eagerly took.

“You two just never give it a rest, do you?” Kuroo’s voice dropped over them like a wave. A smirk settled on Daichi’s face as he turned to face their long-time rivals. “Didja get to see the real sky tree this time? Country bumpkin crows.”

Braving the confrontation, Tsukishima turned around to face them with the rest of Karasuno.

Kuroo had dark rings under his eyes from an apparent lack of sleep. Kenma wore a face mask that looked like a scent neutralizing one. Kei briefly wished he bought one before the trip himself. The rest of Nekoma looked as they usually did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was so much wonderful feedback and comments from the chapter on Tuesday, I decided to give you another chapter for this week! Hopefully you enjoy this one as well. Just a reminder, "Damn Pinch Server" will update this coming Tuesday.
> 
> I did some drawing recently and I made speed draw videos of the process. Please check them out on my [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/EmilyMStone).
> 
> Please check out my original novel and leave a review so I know how and where to improve: [Elementalists: Nine United](http://www.inkitt.com/stories/2199)


	16. Chapter 16

“Kuroo-san, you look worse than you did in December.” Daichi commented.

“I’m sure I do.” He laughed. “You had another presentation after my last visit.”

“Yeah, Kageyama’s an alpha. None of us are terribly surprised.”

“Lev’s an alpha too.” Yamaguchi scented the air. “You smell like licorice.”

A small grin crept onto Tsukishima’s face and he looked directly at Yaku. “Licorice. I know someone that likes licorice.”

Kai hid his laugh behind his hand and even Kuroo perked up a little bit. The small omega scowled at the blond.

“And I thought your team said Yamaguchi was an alpha, but he’s here and clearly an omega.” Yaku fired back.

Tsukishima shrugged. “I wasn’t there. Don’t ask me why my team did what they did. Yamaguchi’s always been an omega.”

“Shall we head inside and see who else is here?” Tetsurō steered them away from the discussion of secondary genders. He was hurt that Karasuno lied to him, but he also figured that they merely wanted to protect their packmate. He couldn’t fault them for their lies.

Tsukishima was a little surprised that he didn’t say anything directly to him, but he thought it might be because they were in a public space. They shouldn’t get in a fight around other people where it might bother them.

Inside the building was a completely different matter. The room was swept with swirling scents that didn’t mix well together. There were tall and short players alike and some of them looked absolutely ferocious. Tsukishima leaned into Yamaguchi and they moved through the crowd together, comforted by their tamer scents. The jalapeño of Daichi increased as he sensed his teammates unease and they all relaxed a little. Tsukishima recognized that Kuroo did the same thing for his own team. Both scents didn’t mix well together, but for some reason, they were just as comforting.

“My, my, what’s this? Don’t tell me you’re actually nervous, Sawamura-san.”

“Me? Your chattiness makes me think you’re nervous, Kuroo-san.” Daichi returned. The other alpha laughed and they attempted to find a path through the swarms of people.

The taller alpha made a comment about Hinata potentially getting lost in the sea of people as he was darting between them with a terrified look on his face.

“Hey, hey, hey!” A familiar voice shouted over the crowd. Bokuto immediately latched onto Hinata, but Akaashi bypassed them to find Tsukishima.

“How are you doing?” Akaashi put a warm hand on the omega’s shoulder.

“I’m great, really.” He gave a small smile. “I’m happy to be here. I hope we can make it past the first day.”

“I’m sure you will.” Keiji grinned and glanced over the omega’s shoulder at Kuroo who watched them closely from his position with his teammates. He had the Nekoma sign in his hands, getting ready to organize them all so they could walk into the auditorium.

“Wah! Oh, hey, Tsukki!” Bokuto lunged through the crowd until he managed to latch himself around the blond’s shoulders and almost pull him to the ground. “It’s good to see you again!”

“Owl-head sure is shooting up a storm.” Kuroo complained. He took half a step toward them before the announcement went over the PA that the ceremony began.

One by one, every team was announced and they filed out into even lines on Tokyo’s orange court. For every boys team, there was a girls team.

* * *

Once they were excused until the start of their match, they headed out to their arranged warmup gym.

On their return, Hinata ended up losing his shoes during a terrible bag switch and left them wondering if they would have one of their starting players while they did short warmups in the large gym.

Luckily, Kiyoko made it back just in time with Hinata’s shoes and they were able to play normal on court C in the main arena.

Their team struggled for the first several minutes against Tsubakihara.

Then, the magic happened. Hinata and Kageyama lined up and took their first quick point of the game.

Nekoma watched from their own court during warmups as it came time for Tsukishima’s serve.

“Well, well, look like the freak twins are stirring the pot already.” Kuroo neck craned around the other games to watch, his fellow teammates mostly in a similar situation.

“GAH!” Yamamoto cried out. “So nervous!”

“Shaddup, Yamamoto!” Yaku swung one of his kicks, usually reserved for Lev, into the alpha’s butt.

The whistle was called for their own game and between rallies and serves, Kuroo tried to watch as much of the Karasuno game as he could muster without becoming distracted. On one such short break he saw Tsukishima jump and force one of the other players into a tight line shot that Hinata managed to pick up. He smirked and focused back on his game. The only way he could come up against those blocks in person would be to keep winning until they met on the court in front of everyone.

On their timeout, they had a moment to watch the other games while listening to Nekomata talk to them and Kuroo saw Tsukishima put up a set for Azumane who smashed it off the blockers hands and it fell out of bounds. The set was fairly impressive—more so because Kei wasn’t a setter by nature. It made Kuroo want to try the same thing.

Asahi’s hand collided with Tsukishima’s back as he congratulated him on the set. Kageyama chose to glare at the omega instead.

“Would you stop reacting in the same way as the shrimp please? It’s disturbing.”

During the next rally, Tsukishima’s “one touch” echoed across the courts and it brought a small smirk to Kuroo’s face. The omega held out against the spike and he wanted to claim it in part to his help during the training camp.

Nekoma was in the middle of a long rally when Karasuno pulled off their heart stopping win. They didn’t realize the game was over until two points later when a time-out was called.

A new team was already warming up on the court. Kuroo whirled around to try and spot them, not listening to their coach at all about their next play.

Kenma tugged at his sleeve and pointed up into the stands where Karasuno settled in to watch their match. Several of them were still standing and organizing their bags, but Tsukishima was already in his seat next to Yamaguchi.

“Listen to coach, would ya?” He muttered irritably.

“Sorry, sorry.” He apologized quickly and focused on what they needed to do out on the court. The alpha inside Tetsurō preened at the opportunity to show off to its omega. He needed to be the best, the strongest, the loudest.

Their next rally was incredibly long. A constant back and forth tug of annoyed pains as each ball was dug up and sent into another spike and dig.

Kuroo and Kenma blocking at the net sent the ball out of bounds on a wayward spike from the other side.

One the next block, Kuroo’s hand touched the ball and he shouted out much as Tsukishima had earlier—but much louder: “one touch!”

Fukunaga picked it up cleanly for Kenma who set it to the left of the court and it was slammed home. Nekoma won. They would be advancing to round two; one step closer to playing Karasuno. Their team cheered and came in for a group hug before separating back out.

Kuroo turned up into the stands and found Tsukishima, but he wasn’t watching the game. He had a mask over his eyes to block out the light as he attempted to take a nap.

Tetsurō’s heart sunk almost immediately. The omega wasn’t watching what he could do.

He clenched his jaw and looked away. There wasn’t a reason for all of Karasuno to watch their match. Of course, they were tired and hungry—Kuroo was as well, but it still pissed him off.

In the stands, Yamaguchi nudged Tsukishima softly. “I think Kuroo-san was trying to show off for you.”

“Lame.” The blonde scoffed back.

Tadashi rolled his eyes and headed after Hinata who wanted to do some shopping and wandering around the venues before they would head back to their hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does someone wanna reread my whole story for me and tell me whether I've already introduced to Kuroo that Tsukishima has a brother? I forgot if I did and I need to know for chapters post 23. I mean, I'll probably reread it myself too, but you know, you guys might remember better than me.
> 
> *whispers* FYI, I totally wrote a very mean cliffhanger at the end of chapter 23. You can't say I didn't give you fair warning.


	17. Chapter 17

As Karasuno exited the venue and started to head out toward the bus that would take them back to their hotel, they were stopped by a shout from Kuroo as Nekoma caught up with them on their path.

“Good to hear you didn’t come all the way down here just to turn around and go home.”

“It’s not that far.” Suga defended with pursed lips.

They mingled with Nekoma for a short while to discuss their matches. Tsukishima stayed firmly planted on the sidelines over analyzing the event pamphlet and tracing potential matchups. Yaku was the only one brave enough to approach the omega and they had a polite conversation that led to a few laughs.

Nekomata interrupted them by calling for this team to join him closer to the building.

“See ya.” Kuroo turned away with this team. “Try not to get eliminated tomorrow.”

“Us? How about you?” Daichi called back with a smirk.

As soon as they turned away, their smirks fell from the faces and they walked away with steely resolve.

* * *

“Our first trip to nationals, huh?” Yaku stretched out on the couch in the lobby of their accomodations. “I kinda wish it wasn’t here, though. I wanted to _travel_. Take the shinkansen and go somewhere _cool_.

“The next year’s—er, well, it’s this year now. The _upcoming_ inter-high—where are they holding it again? If it’s someplace far, I wanna go cheer them all on.” Kuroo folded himself nearly in half on his own chair, exhausted from their first day.

“You’re assuming they’ll make it.” Yaku laughed.

“Have some faith in our kohai, would ya?”

“Ah, speaking of them.” Kai turned to the stairs where a couple of the second years descended and headed immediately for the vending machine. Kenma was with them and wanted to get a specific drink—Kuroo knew it was cocoa.

“We’ve finally dragged Mr. hates-attention-Kenma into the national’s spotlight.” Yaku dropped his relaxed position.

“He sure doesn’t look the part of a national-tournament-level athlete, does he?” Kuroo sat back in his chair. “From when we starting playing volleyball all the way up through middle school, whenever practice was particularly rough, or when we had a long game—he’d always wind up in bed with a fever afterwards. I looked after him a lot as a result. I admit I felt guilty for dragging him into the sport. But, now we’ve made it to the national stage, a part of me wonder if he might possibly think he’s glad he stuck with it.”

“Dude, this is _Kenma_. Isn’t he the kind of person who doesn’t give a fuck one way or another?” Yaku gave him a bland look.

“Geez, Yaku. You sure can be blunt when you want to.”

“Considering Kenma’s personality, I expect if he truly disliked it, he would promptly quit without a second though.” Kai glanced over his shoulder to find Kenma approaching them, face glued to his phone.

“Oi! Kenma! I told you no more games before lights-out! You’re going to ruin your quality of sleep.”

“You sound like such a dad.” Yaku laughed. “I’m only gaining more reasons to be on Tsukishima’s side in your whole mess. Man, I feel bad for you having to deal with Kenma and take care of him while having a different soulmate.”

“Kai, if I wanted to quit, I would’ve.” Kenma agreed. “Still, I can’t say I wouldn’t have felt bad for Kuro. I consider other people’s feelings something.”

“If you’re going to put it that way, I’m not sure how I feel.” Kuroo gave the omega a short glare.

“What was a little of it, not all of it. I mean, who spends hours and hours in practice just because they don’t want to make someone else feel bad? Yeah, it ended up with Kuro having to take care of me and people getting the wrong idea about us, but I don’t regret it. If I hated volleyball, I wouldn’t keep playing it. I figure people like Shōyō who love the sport to its fullest, or any sport, are pretty rare. He’s pretty extreme. I’m still playing volleyball _just because_. I don’t like working until I’m out of breath or sweaty, but I don’t mind grinding for levels. Besides, I have another reason for continuing on and that is outside of Kuro.” Kenma started his trek back up the stairs with a small goodnight.

“Ya know, Kenma’s never had the most stamina, but he can be stubborn about the weirdest stuff. I mean, he does manage to keep up with workouts and practice and stuff. It reminds me of the story Kuroo used to tell us about the ‘getting up early’.”

“Oh yeah.” Kuroo agreed. “He would never get up early, but a few mornings I saw his light on at five in the morning when I went for my run. Turns out he was getting up early to play video games instead of pulling all-nighters to avoid getting in trouble with his parents—except it didn’t work.”

“Ever since we started practicing with Karasuno, I have seen something suspiciously like enthusiasm from him.” Kai mused.

“I know, right?!” Yaku almost jumped out of his seat. “He hangs out with Shrimpy a whole lot too. They have completely opposite personalities—if he wasn’t an omega, I’d think they were soulmates.”

“Shrimpy is the rare friend Kenma made on his own.” Kuroo’s gaze went out of focus as he stared at the front door. “I think part of him looks at the kid as a kind of ‘boss’ he wants to defeat. My guess is that Shrimpy looks at him the same way—as someone he absolutely wants to beat someday.”

“I doubt Kenma will really care if he loses, though, that kinda takes the fun out of beating him.” Yaku straightened his jacket.

“I have to say, calling practice ‘grinding for levels’ is a very _Kenma_ thing to do.” Kai laughed.

The room swelled with loving wafts of juniper as the alpha thought back on the times he spent with Kenma practicing volleyball as kids.

“Whoa, quit it. Don’t get reflective on how much other people have grown.” Yaku kicked him in the shin.

“Yakkun, you know what the word ‘empathy’ means, right?”

“Well, there’s only four days left of the tournament. I’m going to spend that time being the one that stands out the most.” Yaku clenched his fist. “Get all the alphas looking at me.”

“Excuse you, I have already planned out my interview with a pretty sports caster.”

“As if you’d have a chance—you know Tsukishima still exists right?”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Shaddup, Astaxan-thin-head. This is why you and your soulmate aren’t getting together any time soon.”

“That’s Docosahexaenoic acid to you!” Kuroo slammed his hands onto the small coffee table between them.

“What on earth are they arguing about?” One of the second years still by the vending machine looked alarmed.

“Sorry about them!” Kai apologized. “Kuroo, Yaku is right—focus on the only relationship you really can have now and stand out where you can.”

* * *

Kenma focused on a tablet video game, pretending to review match footage, in their group room as they prepared for the second day of the tournament. Kuroo stood next to the window and stared out at the dark street below.

“You okay?” Yaku rolled over in his blankets and pulled them up around him in the semblance of a nest. Lev watched fascinated with the behavior.

“I don’t know.”

“What pissed you off earlier?” Kenma glanced up momentarily from his game.

“Lev, stop staring at Yaku, nesting is normal for omegas.” Kai chastised from the background.

“But Kenma-san doesn’t do it.”

“He does.” Kai assured. “He just hasn’t yet.”

“He didn’t watch the match.” Kuroo turned away from the window and flopped into his own futon with a solid _thud_.

“Tsukishima? I mean—their match was happening at the same time. I can’t see how he could.” Yaku wiggled under his blankets and stretched out like a cat.

“After,” Tetsurō corrected. “After their match was over, they were in the stands. Tsukishima didn’t watch. He went to sleep.”

Kenma rolled his eyes. “He was probably tired.”

“You’re the one who fucking pointed him out to me.”

“Because you weren’t focusing on our match. The only way we can actually face them is if we win. I don’t care if you alpha postured and got rejected—think a little more about what you’re doing and how it’s affecting Tsukishima-san too.” Kozume tossed the tablet down, shoved his blankets into a harried nest, and curled up for bed. “I’m tired of your whining.”

“Sorry, everyone.” Chastised, Kuroo reached for his own covers to go to sleep.

Kai waved him off, called for lights out, and then all of Nekoma joined their captain and setter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiling ya'll because I literally have no ideas for my other stories and I'm currently working on chapter 26. ;)
> 
> Please check out my original novel and leave a review so I know how and where to improve: [Elementalists: Nine United](http://www.inkitt.com/stories/2199)


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just having so much fun writing this story, currently working on chapter 27, that I can't stop posting chapters!

During their warmup in the sub-arena, Hinata managed to get himself and Yamaguchi scolded for suggesting photobombing the interview Kita Shinsuke was in.

Yachi ran in to announce that they needed to change their uniforms due to the game coming near a potential close in the main courts.

Today, Karasuno would be wearing their alternate uniforms and even Tsukishima couldn’t deny that Nishinoya stood out. He did look good in black.

When Hinata insulted Kageyama’s look in the orange outfit, the setter came back with an insult about the middle blocker and tangerines.

Tsukishima stared down at his own jersey. It didn’t look great. He preferred black. Kei looked back up at Hinata. “And I didn’t think you could be any more annoying. Now you’re entirely orange.”

“Like you have any right to talk!” Tanaka joined in.

“Oh yeah! Tanaka-san, what were you talking about with that pretty girl?” Hinata latched onto the new topic and darted forward to the alpha’s side.

Tanaka stumbled over his words.

“What this?” Tsukishima stood straighter and adopted his signature smirk. “Did something happen, Tanaka-senpai? Do share please.”

“It was nothing!” Ryūnosuke managed to defend. “You little kids wouldn’t understand anyway.”

“I hardly think you can call both of us little kids.” Kei rolled his eyes. “At least I’ve kissed someone during my high school years.”

His comment launched an entirely new argument between the three of them.

“How can they act so normal?” Asahi sighed. “At least it makes me feel a little better.”

* * *

The same morning, Kuroo threw himself whole heartedly into focusing on his match and his match alone. They were also scheduled to play on the court at the same time as Karasuno again, but this time they were right next to each other on courts B and C.

“Holy fuck.” Yaku muttered under his breath as they started their own official warmups in the gym as Karasuno’s match started. The absolute silence that Miya Atsumu commanded let alone the booing when it was Karasuno’s turn.

“Are they going to make it out alive?” Yamamoto bounced a ball on the ground several times to get the feel for it.

“I certainly wouldn’t react well in that environment.” Kenma agreed. “They’re incredibly loud.”

Kuroo grit his teeth together, he was doing it a lot more frequently lately, and watched as Asahi missed the serve.

“Let’s focus on winning our own game. There’s nothing we can do to help them.”

Bokuto and Akaashi turned up on the sidelines to watch their match as well and the overzealous alpha waved to Kuroo excitedly. He couldn’t interrupt Karasuno during their game after all. Tetsurō gave them a polite wave back before he moved into his traditional captain speech for the start of every game.

As they made to move out onto the court, Inarizaki’s cheering squad started up with a drum beat that grew faster and faster as each hit came down.

“Fuck that—this is going to mess up our game too.” Kuroo scowled over at the cheering section. “How is that even allowed?”

Then from the Karasuno side, a new set of strong drums started.

“Taiko.” Kai grinned.

In the stands, they spotted the familiar face of Tanaka Saeko from the training camps over of the summer. She was dressed in a more modest traditional style for the drum playing, along with her troupe, as they answered Inarizaki with their own rhythm.

“I think Karasuno is going to be okay.” Inuoka decided.

* * *

Nekoma’s game was rough on them for a lot of reasons. The primary one being that the other team hit the ball into places where, if it was picked up, it would force Kenma to run to set. The omega was not okay with it. It was the last thing he wanted to do on any court while playing a game. The problem was that Nekoma couldn’t pick the ball up quite well enough to send it where they wanted to either. The frustration it caused all of them was apparent on their faces and in their smells.

Sarukawa appeared too excited by that prospect.

On the plus side, their receives were clean enough to keep the rallies going for long periods of time. While it was detrimental to both teams, the rallies seemed to wear down Nekoma a little slower than it did their opponents. They still pulled off several clean saves that had Kuroo frowning and cursing under his breath. The match was incredibly fishy.

Toward the end of the first set they realized what Sarukawa’s slow build-up led to. It was their goal to destroy Nekoma’s brain—their setter, Kenma. If they could take him out of the game from exhaustion, they’d be one step closer to winning the match.

Kenma stared at the court, out of breath and dripping sweat after their most recent point which put them as twenty-two to twenty.

_This sucks_, Kenma tiled his head back and sent a glare to Kuroo.

He hated running. Kozume closed his eyes briefly and remembered when he first joined Nekoma. He used to let his imagination run wild during activities for the team. That was fun. It was like playing Assasin’s Creed and finding himself jumping from building to building with brilliant parkour. There’d be a majestic dragon at his side, the loch ness monster in the canal—a world of endless possibilities.

He didn’t like running across the court to set a ball—it was a waste of time. Kenma placed his hands on his knees and focused on what he knew around him on the court. There was Kuroo, Kai, Yaku, Lev—all of their scents warm and familiar. Then there was Yamamoto’s motor oil scent that clogged his nostrils. He swallowed and took a deep breath to ground himself. He remembered the fights he used to get into with Yamamoto.

The alpha was always upset that Kenma didn’t seem to put in one-hundred percent to their practices. He would complain about him being Kuroo’s friend and acting like Kenma earned his place only because of his older alpha best friend. It pissed the omega off.

He already knew he wasn’t Kuroo’s soulmate—he wouldn’t be able to spend as much time around Tetsurō’s ruts if he was.

In the end, after a mistake during a practice match, Yamamoto went off on himself about not having enough guts or determination and their differing opinions caused them both to snap. It was the first time Kenma really let himself go and yelled at someone for frustrating him—at least on Nekoma. Yamamoto wouldn’t see sense in focusing on what he needed to improve instead of overall strength upgrades.

They both ended up drenched in water when a senpai threw an entire bucket over them. It took a while for them to sync up and understand each other, but over the last year, there was no doubt that they did work to become more cohesive players together.

Enough so that Yamamoto considered them friends and asked the omega to call him “Tora”.

After getting to know the alpha, there was something addicting about being around him even if he could be loud and over the top. He even dyed his hair under Yamamoto’s suggestion—mostly because he wanted to try and stop scaring him when he would play video games in the club room. It didn’t help and now their hair matched a kind of ugly black to blond ratio.

He opened his eyes and nodded once at his teammates before they moved to the next serve.

If they planned to wear Kenma down over time, they’d adjust their plan as needed. They were Nekoma and they knew how to acclimate to any plan.

* * *

The Miya twins having a similar quickset to Kageyama and Hinata didn’t bother Tsukishima in the slightest. The fact they managed to shut down a quick didn’t matter. It happened before. Plenty of their quicks were blocked in previous matches. Yes, not one team had a similar quick to theirs, but the Miya’s he was sure was only because the two were twins and fully trusted each other no matter what. When it came to his turn to block, he calculated their moves and narrowed down the possibility of them trying to pull off their own quick again.

When they did, he was in place to stop it.

Tsukishima came back to the ground with a small smile on his face—victory won.

“I’ve always wanted a chance to roof that stupid quick set.”

* * *

To say Tsukishima was pissed with Kageyama would be an understatement. Yes, they were at nationals. Yes, he needed to put his all into the game. BUT… he hated that the setter put the ball up where he could reach it only if he made an effort. It sucked, but it also had its perks since it was high enough in the air to go directly over the blocker’s hands.

Perhaps the coolest play, that Kei admitted he wasn’t annoyed at Kageyama for, was when Daichi received the ball and it immediately flew over to the other court, heading for out—but Kageyama dashed to the other side to save it. He never crossed into Inarizaki’s court and he set the ball back to their court where Asahi spiked it into the arms of the blockers where it bounced out of bounds.

Their game, at the end of the first set took a longer break when Nekoma won on the court next to them and something completely unexpected happened in the middle of the crowded gymnasium.

Kenma, completely exhausted after their second set went into the thirty-point range, collapsed onto the court with the rest of his team around him. As everyone else got their wits about them, however, he pulled Yamamoto in and kissed him in front of the entire stadium.

There was a lot of cheering as the two shared a personal moment together on that court.

Yamaguchi stared open mouthed from their game at the PDA—something none of them ever thought Kenma would engage in.

“I’m really glad you’re our ace.” Kenma whispered when he pulled away.

Tora coughed and turned a darker shade of red. “Me too.”

Kuroo caught Tsukishima’s gaze for the barest of moments before Karasuno had to return to their own match, only one set in. He gave the omega a small smile before he pointed at the bleachers to indicate that he would be watching the match.

Kei turned away and took his place on the court for the second set. Tetsurō had a feeling that things were about to look up for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a turn around point for the things that are to come. I can't wait to get to rewriting the Karasuno vs Nekoma match!
> 
> Please check out my original novel and leave a review so I know how and where to improve: [Elementalists: Nine United](http://www.inkitt.com/stories/2199)


	19. Chapter 19

“You made some actual effort today—it was impressive for you.” Yaku complimented Kenma as they cooled down on the side of the courts.

“I never expected you of all people to come up with a plan that meant more work for you. You even claimed Yamamoto as yours in front of everyone.” Kuroo ginned down at him.

“I decided a little effort in set two would make it so we could avoid set three. I didn’t need any more exhaustion. Set three would’ve taken me down with it—and I didn’t claim Tora as mine. I merely thanked him for helping lead us to victory.” He turned his head away from Kuroo as he said it and the alpha’s smile grew wider.

“That’s one hell of a thank you.” Yaku blinked several times.

“Ah, that reminds me, we have a cute kohai you could thank in a similar manner.”

“I’m going to kick your ass if you make one more snide comment about me and Lev.”

“I’d love to see you try.” Kuroo bumped the omega with his elbow.

The next second, they treated Kenma to a show as Yaku chased around their captain in the free spaces between other students and reporters. They looked ridiculous and certainly caused trouble in the immediate vicinity.

“You showed some real guts out there today, Kenma.” Yamamoto approached the omega with his hands on his hips.

“No, I didn’t.” He said softly. “I’m not at a high enough level to use that skill yet.”

“Huh?”

“It’s—you know, the whole _duty_ thing? I guess? The rest of you are all trying hard to keep the ball up and stuff, so I kinda, well, felt I had to try too.” He tangled his fingers in his hair and tugged at the strands.

“I’m saying that took guts to—”

“Do we really need to give some specific cheesy name to putting in effort to achieve something? Is it really that weird for me to try?”

“What’re you gettin’ all mad for?”

“Is it _weird_ for me to try hard for my friends?!” Kenma angrily snatched the proffered banana away from Kuroo and shoved a bite into his mouth. “Is it really?!”

Tora opened his arms and, along with Fukunaga, tried to force the omega into a hug.

“Stay back!” Kenma warned them while backing up against the wall closer to Lev who wanted to steal a banana.

“Yamamoto’s overreacting again.” Yaku laughed.

“Kenma calling other people his friends is a pretty amazing development.” Tetsurō joined the omega at the courtside to watch the ongoing matches.

“Now we can only hope that this convinces him to step up a little and get more aggressive.” Yaku stared up at the ceiling lights.

“You can stop that cheesy voiceover now, thanks.” Kuroo laughed.

“I really hate Tora’s stupid _guts_ concept. It’s too complicated for me.” Kenma heaved himself off the floor and joined his best friend.

“You are the one that kissed him—if you didn’t want to be annoyed by him, maybe don’t signal to him that you want a relationship?”

“Shut up, Kuro.”

“Thank you, though, really.”

“What are you thanking me for?”

“You may not have done what you did for me directly—but I think Tsukishima might finally understand a little more. It gives me hope for our match tomorrow.”

“You’re under the guise they’ll win as well.”

“I have a feeling that they can’t lose. Not today.”

Kenma frowned and focused on the ongoing games. _I did a lot of level grinding to get here. After all that—I do want a really tough boss battle to challenge myself with._

Hinata slammed the ball down on Inarizaki’s court in front of them and Kenma’s face lit up. Kuroo smirked. _If there’s anyone out there who can get Kenma to play aggressively—it’s him_.

“So Karasuno’s opponent this round is the Miya twins.” Kai stepped up behind them to watch the match as well.

“Whoa, check it out! They won the first set.” Yaku leaned onto the barricade in front of him.

Kuroo grit his teeth and zeroed in entirely on their game. He did his utmost to weave spirals of encouraging juniper around them as he tried to communicate telepathically to no avail. _Yo. Karasuno. We made it. Nekoma is here._

* * *

As much as Tsukishima hated to admit it, feeling—or rather smelling—Nekoma’s support for their match incredibly bolstered them. It didn’t stop them from losing the second set miserably to their opponents. He stared down the score on the board. Sixteen to twenty-five. What an absolute shit show of a set.

During the second set, he did manage to scare the spikers a few times with his blocks—but on one particular round they got the ball past him and he was more frustrated about it than usual. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kuroo’s scowl (directed more toward the opposing team), but the omega in him whined. He hadn’t been able to show off in front of the alpha.

He cursed under his breath when he hit the ground again.

“You are a good blocker.” Rintaro complimented and it only served to piss off the blond more.

On the next spike, he could feel all of the scents of Nekoma’s presented members cloying around them on the court and pressured him to pull off a good block. Except, even with Kageyama they couldn’t do anything against his spiking movement.

“Did you see it?” Kenma glanced at Kuroo whose face was stuck in a permanent frown as he watched the match. “Number ten’s posture was one-hundred percent a cross shot. Tsukki picked up on that and immediately moved to block the cross. Kageyama zipped in from the center to make it a double, but—number ten’s approach and posture were all feints he designed to lure in the blockers. It therefore opened the other side of the court.”

“Nationals is _scary_.” Kuroo decided.

Kenma’s shoulders drooped. “Ergh, I’m tired of standing.”

He headed back over to the wall near the first and second years on the team and rested his head against Yamamoto’s shoulder.

“Kuroo, your jacket.” Yaku handed him the material. “Don’t ruin your body for tomorrow’s match. We’re moving into the stands.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

* * *

“Tsukki, are you okay?” Yamaguchi asked between sets.

“I don’t know how to feel. I’m thinking too much about things not important to what’s going on right now. I need to focus on our game.” He squeezed his water bottle.

“Are you thinking about Kenma-san kissing Yamamoto-san?”

“Yeah—it just blows all of prejudices and beliefs out of the water. It means Kuroo was telling the truth and I got too caught up in myself to listen.”

“That happens to everyone—I think.” Yamaguchi took a sip of his own water. “It’s why couples get into fights and why you have to work out your issues. But, for right now, any ideas on what you’re going to do about Rinatro?”

“I have a couple ideas.” He let a small smile slip onto his face. “Like I said last night when Coach reviewed the tapes with us: ‘the idea that the only good blocking is kill blocking is way outdated.’”

* * *

“If it were you, Kuro, what would you do about Inarizaki’s number ten?”

“Hmm, I would say to stay disciplined and don’t take the bait, I guess. Lose your cool and try to chase after him and he’ll just pick you apart. Besides, it’s not like anyone blocker can cover the whole width of his contact point anyways. Focus too hard on stuffing him and you’re just playing right into his hands.” Kuroo rested his chin on his hand and stared down at Tsukishima’s back on the court as he led Rintaro in spiking the ball directly to Sawamura where he picked it up. “Of course, even though I get all that—if I was playing him, I _know_ I wouldn’t be able to help myself and I’d take the bait a few times. I’d probably manage to stuff him a time or three, but that’s it. In Tsukki’s case though, I think he dedicated the first two whole sets to teaching the guys on ground defense behind him. He showed them ‘this is Rintaro Suna’s counter-cross shot’.”

“It was good blocking and a good bump. You’d better be watching this Lev!” Yaku shouted to the few rows ahead of them where the first years sat in a group.

“I—I am! I am!” Lev’s face turned red, flustered by the admonition.

_Volleyball is a sport where you know you’re going to scored on. There’s no such thing as a shut-out game—and you’ll never be able to completely shut down any attack. When it comes to Suna’s counter-cross, the more he uses it, the more of an advantage Karasuno has._ Kuroo smirked. His soulmate certainly was an incredibly strong omega—he loved it.

* * *

Down on the court, Suna glared through the net as Tsukishima and called out to him. “Hey, thank for giving me a nice, clear hitting lane every time.”

Kei stopped his walk across the court to his spot, stared at his opponent for a long moment before he grinned. “No, no. Thank you for hitting exactly how I expected you to every time.”

They turned away from each other and returned to their assigned positions on the court.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to balance tying in the actual story from the manga as well as giving the story my own spin to fit with the ABO universe is more difficult than I thought it'd be. I'm sorry that I have to borrow so much dialogue from Furudate-sensei! I just can't think of many good ways to portray it since it is straight forward. I hope you all don't mind the manga recap.
> 
> Please check out my original novel and leave a review so I know how and where to improve: [Elementalists: Nine United](http://www.inkitt.com/stories/2199)


	20. Chapter 20

Their last set against Inarizaki. If they didn’t take this one, they wouldn’t be playing against Nekoma the next day. They’d be on the train home and Tsukishima would lose his opportunity to have a real conversation with the alpha.

He grit his teeth and switched into the game as Hinata moved into the serving position. He didn’t necessarily want to talk to him right away either. He needed to sort his thoughts out and thinking about it in the middle of their match was the worst time.

“Get the fuck out of my head.” He mumbled under his breath. One of the players on the opposing team gave him a blank look.

Kei pulled himself together for the next rally and managed to pull off a great block against the spiker. Atsumu positioned himself under the high-flying ball and sent a set to Osamu who led Tsukishima into thinking he would be going for a spike. He jumped along with Asahi into the block (in the stands Kuroo complimented him for being on point), but Osamu turned it into another set directly back to Aran.

“What?” Tsukishiima gazed open mouthed at the change in play.

He heard Kuroo’s irate: “Excuse me?!” echo from the stands and he couldn’t come up with a better sentiment for the terrible situation. Except, Hinata was there. He dug up the ball perfectly and left them open for the perfect position to counter.

One of the Miya twins picked up their spike and sent it back to Karasuno through a three-man block. Hinata was there again and they spent it for a spike that the libero picked up with the tip of their shoe. The ball fell, disappointingly, just past the net on Karasuno’s side. The worst way for a rally like that to end.

Their score reached into the thirties and at thirty-one to thirty, Tsukishima changed up his serve to put one barely over the net. Yet, Inarizaki managed to pick it up once again, but it gave Karasuno a free ball.

After another awry spike onto their side of the court, Kei reached out to save it from hitting out of bounds after bouncing off the blockers. He got his hand under it, but his fingers sent it flying in the opposite direction any of them wanted. Behind him, Daichi saved the ball and put it back into their opponent’s court for them to play with as they pleased. Then, Hinata was there for the block and it bounced back onto Inarizaki’s court just inside the line.

They won.

Their entire team melded into one as they dogpiled, one upon another in their sweaty mess, completely spent.

* * *

Kuroo stood from his seat and the rest of Nekoma followed as he headed for the exit of the arena. They didn’t need to hang around anymore that day. Tomorrow, they would face Karasuno head on. As terrifying as that prospect seemed.

* * *

“Tsukki, you okay?” Yamaguchi settled into the bath with the other first years when it was their turn that night.

“I’m exhausted.” He yawned and adjusted the spray nozzle to clean his body a little better. He wondered faintly if Kuroo was also taking a bath with his team, or if they were done for the night and getting ready for bed. Maybe they wanted to review play tactics to try and beat them the next day—not that Tsukishima would let them.

“Hinata, I’m surprised you aren’t falling asleep in the bath like you were last night. I thought you were going to drown.”

“I’m still full of adrenaline! I wish we could go and play another game, right now!”

“That’s disturbing.” Kei’s eye twitched as he set the spray hose down.

“Hey, Tsukishima! That wasn’t your usual snark—you meant that one. It hurts!”

“Sounds like a personal problem.”

The small omega jumped out of the water and tried to pounce on the blond.

“Hinata! Boke!” Kageyama yelled from under his cap of shampoo bubbles.

* * *

“If Nekoma High School’s team were to be summed up in a word, it would be ‘consistent’.” The newscaster’s voice echoed around their hotel room from a small TV in the corner. Kuroo, Yamamoto, and Yaku sat themselves directly in front of it. “This year’s team has welcomed a new and aggressive middle blocker who brings defense up to new heights. However, Karasuno is riding a wave of momentum. I hope that Nekoma can find a way to keep them from running away with the game.”

“Hey! Quit making is sound like we’re the worse team!” Yamamoto yelled at the TV.

“All the buzz is saying Karasuno’s better than us, too. They’ve beaten a lot of good teams to get here.” Kenma pitched in from the sleeping area where he clutched a handheld game.

“Yeah, so what? We beat a bunch of really good teams, too. Everybody did to get here!”

“How come you only got your own futon out?” Kuroo berated.

“Do you think we could beat Ushiawaka or the Miya twins?” Kenma hunched farther over his game.

“Don’t go quiet there!” Yaku stared between the two alphas. “Say something.”

“Well, I think you can’t know for sure unless you try. I also think that rock can crush scissors, but rolls over and dies against paper.” Kuroo decided.

“Ah, well, none of that really matters anyway.” Kenma set the game down in his lap. “We came all the way here so we could play them and _prove_ who’s better.”

The team felt bolstered by his words and Kuroo called for lights out once they had their futons arranged.

Most of the team fell into their sleep cycles fairly quick, but Kuroo remained awake running possible scenarios of playing directly against Tsukishima in their game. As he rolled over to try and force himself to sleep, a quiet whisper caught his attention.

“Hey, Kenma?” Yamamoto stretched out a hand between their futons and found the omega’s in the dark.

“What is it? We need sleep for tomorrow’s game.”

“Yeah, but we haven’t really talked about what happened earlier today. I’m not sure I can sleep without knowing.”

“What is there to know?”

“You kissed me.”

“Yeah, that was pretty obvious. I was surprised the news report didn’t mention it.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you?” The omega sounded puzzled with the accusation.

“Are you sure it’s me you actually want?”

“I wouldn’t kiss you if I wasn’t. I’m not doing it for any other reason than I was tired of hiding my own feelings. I don’t like things I can’t defeat—so I figured out a way to fix that. I like you, Tora. Your smell, your passion—even when you get on my nerves, there’s something about you that pulls me right back in.”

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

“I accept your feelings. I’ll do my best as your partner.”

“I’m going to sleep.” Kenma rolled over.

“Wait,” Tora lifted himself out of his blankets and quickly leaned over to Kozume’s bed. The omega’s eyes glittered in the filtered moonlight from the window. The alpha took him by surprised when he leaned down and pressed a long and soft kiss against his lips.

When he pulled away, with an entirely red face, he quickly ran his nose along the scent gland under Kenma’s jaw and licked it before he hurried back into his own bed. Scented, for the first time by someone other than Kuroo and in an intimate way, Kenma let out a soft squeak.

“Tora?” He called.

“What?”

The only reply was the omega pressing up against him from behind, in his bed spooning him. They fell asleep cuddled together.


	21. Chapter 21

The referee blew the whistle for the captains to meet and shake hands. The stadium was absolutely electric around Tsukishima.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the crows of Karasuno, masters of the diving dig.” Kuroo called out to Daichi.

“We never would’ve gotten here without you.” Sawamura smiled warmly at their opponents and casually tried to crush Kuroo’s hand as he did every time.

_Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow_. Tetsurō locked his jaw to keep the smirk on his face before they moved away to their sides of the court.

* * *

“Ah! We made it in time!” Someone called from the stands. Tsukishima looked up to find the Nekoma High School cheering squad falling into line in the bleachers.

“Oh!” A couple girls pushed their way to the front and leaned against the railing. “Doesn’t Kuroo-senpai look cool in that uniform?”

Kei scowled.

“Yamaguchi, I’ve made up my mind.”

“About?” He removed his jacket and added it to the folded pile at courtside.

“Kuroo’s mine.”

“That’s quite the jump from yesterday.”

“I’ve fucked up a lot of parts of our relationship, it hasn’t only been Kuroo-san. Whatever happens during our match, I need to talk to him and I need to let him know I want him.”

“Just don’t let it affect your play today.” Suga pat on him on the back with a wry smile. “Sorry to eavesdrop, but you’re playing on the court, not waiting on the bench.”

“Of course, senpai.” Tsukishima nodded.

“I’m glad you’ve sorted out your feelings, though. I think you both will be good for each other.” Kōshi pushed them both toward the team huddle.

Daichi put his hands together to address them. “As you all know, we’ve yet to take even one set from Nekoma in practice games. Forget all that. We left our ugly memories and regrets back in Miyagi.”

* * *

A smirk graced Kuroo’s face as he pulled his team in for their own huddle. “We are blood. Never stop flowing. Keep moving. Keep bringing in the oxygen so that our ‘brain’ can operate at his best.”

From both sides of the court, the teams were in perfect unison as the captains shouted: “LET’S DEVOUR EVERY LAST SCRAP OFF THEIR BONES!”

Karasuno took the first point. Kuroo watched from the side as he was in the back line and Yaku had his spot on the court. Across the net, it looked like Karasuno made plans to match him up against Tsukishima as much as possible considering the omega was in the waiting box as well while Noya had his place in the back line. He certainly wanted to face off against his soulmate face to face and he was eager to get out on the court. This was a game Tsukishima wouldn’t be able to sleep through.

After the next point, which Lev took for Nekoma, Kuroo rotated into the front line. When the ball came from an uneven save from Lev and started to cross back over into their opponent’s courts, Kuroo jumped and slammed it down, except Kageyama got under it just in time.

Nishinoya set it up to Asahi and despite both Kai and Kuroo jumping for the block, he smashed it past both of them.

Tetsurō ran his tongue along his teeth. Of course, they were going to lose some points, it’s how the game goes, but he wanted to put his best foot forward in the game. One point wouldn’t detail his whole day, but knowing Tsukishima was watching the match—preparing to participate in it had him on edge.

He gladly took the next point Kenma put over for him and he grinned.

“Kenma! You’re looking real sharp so far this game! Is it only gonna be for the beginning, though? Are you gonna give up and slack off?” Yamamoto joked.

“I take back what I said last night. I’m breaking up with you.” He retorted as he slouched away to get ready for their team’s serve.

“Hey, wait, that wasn’t what I meant.”

“Yamamoto! GAME! Love life later.” Kuroo called after them. “It’s your turn to serve.”

The next point, Karasuno took and Tsukishima rotated into the front row. As they all moved into position, Kei and Kenma had a brief moment where they stared through the net at each other. Tsukishima kept his expression schooled to neutral and when Kenma turned away with narrowed eyes, one thought ran through his head: _he’s rather expressive at times. What? You don’t like me? Why, thank you. It’s an honor._

On the next attack, Nekoma went in for a synchro attack. Undeterred, Tsukishima jumped to block Kai alongside Asahi and pulled off a:

“One-touch!”

“Cover!” Daichi yelled. Hinata put himself under the ball and sent it up for Kageyama to set. All five players ran in for a synchro attack, but Kuroo and Fukunaga got themselves in front of Daichi and blocked the spike.

The stands went wild and Tsukishima and Kageyama pulled a face looking at each other.

Hinata rotated out of the game with Nishinoya.

“That’s the first time we’ve done the synchro attack with all five players against Nekoma, right?” Suga pulled Hinata into the box. “Kuroo was stupidly on top of that one.”

“I mean—if you think about it. Even though they’re soulmates, if you think about it outside of those terms, if Tsukishima has a master as a naggy, annoying blocker—it would be Kuroo-san. I think if they weren’t soulmates, they’d still have that relationship dynamic on the court if if we’re ignoring personal relationships right now, then Tsukishima has to overcome Kuroo-san as the better blocker.”

“Sometimes you talk a lot like you know things and it scares me.” Yamaguchi admitted.

On the court, Tsukishima and Kuroo crossed paths across the net. “You sure you aren’t getting blown through ‘cause you’re still putting your arms straight up? I told you, you wanna put them forward, Mr. Justin Klubb.”

Tsukishima bit his tongue to keep himself from reacting to Kuroo’s deprecating smirk as he brought back the joke from summer.

“Handing out advice to opponents again? I see you are as self-confident as ever.”

Kuroo backed away and dropped his usual smirk. “Nah, I just do it to mess with you.”

“Tsukki! Don’t let him get to you!” Bokuto yelled from the sidelines. Kuroo glared at his best friend while Tsukishima failed to hide a small laugh.

_I bet Kuroo-san is saying something to get under Tsukishima skin again._ Akaashi sighed. _I wish he’d think a little more._

* * *

The next time Tsukishima rotated into the front row, Suga got a little overexcited about sending him in.

“Yeah! Tsukishima!! Get on out there and whip Kuroo’s butt!”

Yamaguchi buried his face in his hands to hide his laughter.

“Well, well, Suga-chan is hot and bothered today I see.” Kuroo let out his own laugh. “You’d never guess it by looking at him, but the dude is waaaay too high-strung.”

“Suga-san, I can’t.” Kei turned around to look at the vice-captain.

The whistle blew for a player change and on Hinata’s way out, he said: “figured he’d say that.”

Tsukishima turned back to face Kuroo. “Never in my life have I though I could challenge someone better than me and win. Especially you. There’s no way I can outdo you, Kuroo-san. I am under no illusions that I could ever beat you on my own.”

Behind him, Yamaguchi stepped into place as the pinch server and the eerily calm expression that took over Kei’s face made the alpha shudder.

_Wow, Tsukishima is someone to be reckoned with. He shut Sugawara-san up with almost one word._ Ennoshita glanced between the quiet setter and the court.

Yamaguchi spun the spall between his fingers and slowed his breathing. _It’s still early in the game. Admittedly, Kageyama isn’t warmed up enough to be at full power, but he hasn’t gotten a service ace off Nekoma yet._

“You sure he isn’t all about beating us on his own?” Kuroo nodded to Tadashi.

“He probably is.” Tsukishima shrugged. “He’s always been one step ahead of me.”

Kuroo didn’t have a chance to say anything else as the whistle blew and they had to focus on the serve.

Yamamoto managed to get under the ball, but it bounced off his receive and flew out of bounds.

“Yes! Yes! YEEEEESSS!!” Yamaguchi cheered.

The stadium went wild and they could hear the announcers excitedly reporting into their microphones. “Karasuno’s first service ace of the day!”

“Wow, that decided to stretch right as it hit your arms, didn’t it?” Yaku turned to Yamamoto with a grin on his face.

“BRUH—that was so—argh.”

“Shake it off.” Kai pat the ace on the back.

Tsukishima laughed on his side of the net and gave his best friend a thumbs up. Kuroo cringed.

On the next serve, Yaku was determined to not let them have another service ace and Kai was there to get the ball in the air.

Synced, from years of friendships, as Yamaguchi became frustrated Tsukishima thanked him for doing plenty to at least catch Nekoma little off guard. Their spikers went in for the run up, the ball went to Fukunaga and Tsukishima jumped higher than before and got his hands over the net to perfectly block the spike. As Kuroo came down from his own jump, he grinned in raw irony at the omega doing exactly what he told him to do.

_A level-headed, disciplined shield and the best possible partner. One that makes its decisions easy—a sharp spear. That is the ideal serve and block strategy_.

Tsukishima hit the ground and turned to high five Yamaguchi and pull him into a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY THE NEKOMA VS KARASUNO MATCH


	22. Chapter 22

“Akaashi! Did you see that? Look at what _our_ Tsukki did.”

“Tsukishima is not ‘ours’, Bokuto-san.” The omega bit back a smile. He was still extremely proud that the omega managed to pull off a block easily on par with Kuroo’s. “Yes, I did see it.”

“That was higher than expected—a farther reach too. He went above and beyond.” Fukunaga stare through the net in awe.

Kenma glared at Kuroo and watched Yaku kick him in the ass with a shout of: “THAT WAS YOUR FAULT.”

“You both know how good Tsukki is anyway!” Kuroo rubbed his butt, a little sore after the firm kick. Kenma’s annoyed pheromones pissed him off even more. He called through the net.: “hey Tsukki. How’s volleyball been for you lately?”

Tsukishima bit his lip. “Thanks to everyone’s help—once in a while, a very great while, it’s actually kind of fun.”

He gave the alpha a wide grin. Kuroo was absolutely shook. The omega smiled at him, without any other meaning behind it. He was having as much fun during their game as him.

After Karasuno pulled four points ahead, Yaku got himself under the ball and Kai scored past their blockers.

Kuroo rotated into the serve and Lev rotated in as Yaku temporarily left the game.

“Haiba-kun!” Shibayama called after him. “Remember, you’re you. Got it?”

Lev stared at the smaller teen for a long while before he said: “Sure! Right.”

“Yeah, that sailed over his head. You need to blunt with him or he doesn’t get it.” Tamahiko Teshiro chastised the libero.

“I was trying not to be too harsh and throw him into a funk or something.”

“Hey, Lev!” Yaku pointed to him as he joined the off-court box. “No trying to show off out there, got it?!”

Lev gave him a thumbs up.

“Something about that ticks me off." Yaku pursed his lips. _I’ll get after him later_.

Kuroo pulled off a no-touch service ace with his first serve and brought their scores a little closer together. His second serve, Daichi picked it up and Tsukishima spiked it over the net and it bounced off Yamamoto’s receive.

“You could’ve scored another point or two, you know.” Kenma suggested.

“Don’t say that so casually.” He came back on his friend.

* * *

During the first set, Tsukishima made a spike that Kuroo got a one-touch on, despite the slight height difference. Annoyed pheromones bled out of Tsukishima without him thinking and they very nearly threw Kuroo off his game. On the next spike, from Asahi, he pulled off a one-touch, but it hit too high and flew out of bounds.

Kuroo moved to serving and all of them thought they stopped him at one, but despite Kageyama beating Lev at the net for a push, Yamamoto managed to pick it up and Kenma moved to set it right to Lev who hit it between the late blockers. His second serve also went straight to Daichi and he cursed himself under his breath. Everyone approached for the next attack, except Noya, and the toss went up to the captain who sent it right into the back of the court where he scored.

A few more rotations in the game and Tanaka came up to spike, but Kuroo was there to stop it. He stuffed it completely and tied their scores at twenty-three. He lifted a fist in the air and cheered that he scored them a point.

Several girls squealed in the stands over the block and Tsukishima frowned from the bench. He hated the feeling settling in his gut, but he also knew it was entirely his fault and he could’ve stopped a lot of his own heartache. He tried his best to control his emotions, but the soft pat on his back that Suga gave him told him he didn’t do it very well.

Kuroo caught his gaze for just a moment before the alpha had to focus back on the game as it would be Lev’s second serve. The flash of concern, however, made him feel noticed and he knew that something in Kuroo made him care that the omega was upset about something. Since no one else on the court seemed to notice, he wondered if it was merely something between them as soulmates that he could sense his distress from farther away.

Tied again at twenty-four, the long rally wore down on their team and Tsukishima felt helpless from the outside. On the third hit from their side, Asahi managed to cascade the ball against the blocker’s hands into a waterfall ball. Kai and Kuroo watched helplessly as the ball fell between their hands and the net to the floor. No one could get between them to even attempt a save and it would most likely end in the ball flying out of bounds.

“Doesn’t it ever occur to them to maybe pick a somewhat less risky course of action?!” Kuroo frustratedly yelled from his side of the court. Kei let out a soft laugh that the alpha apparently heard as he glanced back to the blond with a perkier stance.

Tsukishima rotated back into the game as it was Hinata’s turn to serve. It let to an easy point for Nekoma through Kuroo. The next receive went up in the air and Tsukishima, faced directly across the net by Kuroo, spiked it as best he could between the alpha’s hands, but he still pulled off a one-touch. Kai managed to get it in the air, but on the return Kageyama took the first hit and Nishinoya set it to Asahi who sent it careening over the block so hard it made Yaku visibly flinch from stinging arms after he received it.

The ball started to head back over the net and Kozume reached up to tip it. Both Tsukishima and Asahi jumped to block it, but despite the ball falling in Nekoma’s court, Karasuno received an overreach foul because they touched the ball too soon while it was still on the other side of the net. The point ended up going to Nekoma.

Tsukishima leveled the back of Kenma’s head with a fierce glare, pissed off he was baited into the foul.

The next attack, at Nekoma’s match point, as they backed up to try again on a different attack after Nekoma flubbed the receive, all of them forgot they had to receive the ball on their side as well in order to spike it. Tsukishima decided that was the dumbest way to lose a set at Nationals. Forgetting to receive the damn ball. Stupid campfire.

Kenma smirked through the net at them and something clicked in Kei’s mind. There was a reason Nekoma did all they could to keep Kenma from moving—it wasn’t because Kenma was lazy, it was because he was the designated playmaker. His decisions, even his choices to move on the court, were all done to throw off his opponents. Kuroo’s dumb speech he heard wasn’t some biological inspiration, it was literally their task out on the court.

_I fucking hate them_. Tsukishima bit his lip and watched Kuroo retreat to the bench to get water. _Kind of—it’s complicated._

* * *

The second set started with Nekoma still targeting Hinata to try and take him out of the equation. He managed to get under the ball and use the momentum to dash to the other side of the court where he slammed home the first point. Tsukishima felt a little pride in his teammate, knowing that their focus to take down Hinata from attacking would be foiled a little longer.

On point seven in their favor (Nekoma at five), Kenma tried to get them to campfire a point again, but Daichi cleanly received the ball and it allowed them to score. Kuroo rotated out of the game as he passed Kenma, he wished that they would’ve pulled the same stunt again.

“Karasuno thinks a lot more about their plays than their opponents expect them to.” Kenma agreed. “At least keep that in mind.”

* * *

After a particularly nasty spike by Kageyama, his first service ace of the day, Nekoma called a timeout.

“Can’t they just slack off for one rally? Or six?” Kuroo suggested. “Even better, they do their best Kenma impression and start setting with digs.”

“You do know we’re playing Karasuno, right?” Yaku folded his arms across his chest. “Plus, I doubt Tsukishima would let anyone get away with that. There’s something incredibly gratifying to pull one over on an alpha—let alone a soulmate.”

“How would you know, Yaku-san? Your soulmate hasn’t appeared yet.” Lev pitched in. The omega replied with a swift kick to the young alpha’s rear end.

“They are getting tired, though. No one has infinite stamina—that goes for us too.” Kenma pitched in. He looked up to find Yamamoto staring at him. The alpha said his name, but Kozume interrupted him. “Don’t. Don’t you dare say it. I do not want to hear that word right now. You say it and I’m never kissing you again.”

“Come one, Kenma! Let’s see some guts!” Taketora jumped behind the bench to pat his back.

“Go away!” The bleached blond shouted. He wanted to relax on the bench while he could.

Kuroo laughed at the sight. Yamamoto still had a long way to go, as did Kenma, before their relationship would be considered semi-functional.


	23. Chapter 23

The last set of the day. Tsukishima stepped onto the court straight across from Kuroo and he felt warmth sprout in his heart as he met the alpha’s gaze. Memories from the summer washed over him.

_“Did you know that if you swallow a watermelon seed, it’ll sprout in your stomach?”_

_“Really? I’ll be careful.”_

_“Leave it—it’ll grow out your throat.”_

_“Exactly what I want.”_

_“Hey, Tsukki, did you know about when Bokuto—”_

_“I’m sure I don’t want to know and I’d rather it stay that way.”_

_“I’m Bokuto!” Kuroo cheered as he pushed his mess of a hair into an imitation of the horned owl look. Bokuto mussed up his own hair with a shout of:_

_“I’m Kuroo!”_

_Tsukishima remembered laughing with Hinata that day and wishing Bokuto would keep the hairstyle._

_“When you’re blocking, avoid jumping on an angle as much as possible. It’s better to take the time to square up and jump straight up.”_

_Kuroo’s hands on him as he adjusted his position._

Tsukishima turned away from the alpha and prepared for the serve. One one-touch block for Tsukishima, one for Kuroo, a side spike to Tanaka and a ball floating between the courts.

Kei and Tetsurō met the ball in the middle and did their best to push it to the other side. The omega lost.

“Damnit, Tsukki! Quit trying so hard. You keep making the rallies freaking long! I’m starting to get tired over here.”

“Don’t blame me! If you would stop resisting so much this would be over a lot quicker!”

“A lover’s quarrel?” Noya suggested from behind the blond.

“I guess even Tsukki will snap when he gets tired enough.” Kai laughed.

“You can pinpoint Kuroo and Bokuto as the causes for that.” Yaku pitched in.

“Thank you, oh, so much.” Tsukishima faked sincerity and gave Kuroo a small smirk.

“No. Thank you.” Kuroo turned away from the net. _Read blocking is the type of blocking that lets you get the last laugh. Even if you understand it well in concept that doesn’t mean you can apply it every time. The ideal block is obviously one that stops a hit. ‘I wanna stuff that guy and hype up my teammates’, or ‘thinking is hard, I’ll just turn off my brain and go on instinct and reflex’. The more tired you are, the easier it is to fall into those mental traps._

“You know how you’re known for your super tenacious and persistent blocking?” Kuroo started. “And how much it ticks everybody off, right?”

Tsukishima couldn’t come up with a plausible reply.

Daichi passed behind him. “If you’re having trouble finding a retort, I could punch him for you.”

“Seeing how successful you are, I can’t help but think: thank fuck I wasn’t wrong about you.” Kuroo leveled him with a proud look and his pheromones bled the same emotion. Tsukishima felt more pleased with himself and steeled his resolve to continue and show _his_ alpha that he wasn’t wrong about anything between them.

At the end of their next rally, Kei hit the ball over the net, past Lev and Fukunaga and it slammed down onto the court just centimeters shy of Kuroo saving it.

Tetsurō laid belly down on the court and gave the omega a weak glare for that last hit. It brought a wide smile to the blond’s face.

_“How’s volleyball been for you lately?”_

_Absolutely amazing._

* * *

Yamaguchi’s next serve provided Tsukishima with an opportunity to block against Kuroo’s spike and he pulled off a one-touch that allowed him to spike the ball on the next turn around.

_Come up here!_ Kei thought as he jumped into the air above Kuroo’s block.

_I knew it. Tsukki’s point of contact is higher than before—even this late in the game._ Kuroo fell first and watched the ball get spiked over his head where it met the court.

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi celebrated with a high five while he communicated with Kageyama via a well-timed glare that he over did it with the high spike point. He was tired.

* * *

A particularly rough rally, after Hinata tricked Nekoma with one of his spikes, sent Kenma careening to the floor.

“Kenma!” Kuroo whirled around and ran toward the omega. “Are you alright? Did you get hurt?”

Yamamoto was hot on heels, but Tsukishima had to bite back the sting of jealousy. _He’s checking on his teammate. I would do the same thing if that happened on this side of the court—it’s not because he’s in a relationship._

“That was fun.” Kenma pressed himself farther against the cold floor panels. “That was fun.”

Kuroo burst into laughter and Hinata cheered on Karasuno’s side. The crowd and commentators appeared confused by the events, but for them—no matter the outcome of the game—it was one they would remember for the rest of their lives. It really was a fun game.

* * *

On the last point of the match, Kenma and Lev collided during their block. Kozume tumbled across the floor and Lev came down, immediately looking for the omega.

“Kenma-san!”

“IDIOT! Forget me! The ball hasn’t hit the floor yet.” Kenma pushed himself of the ground and took off running across the court. _I hurt. I’m exhausted. I don’t ever want this to end._

Then, the final set of the match. Kenma lifted his hands to meet the ball, but the sweat on his fingers sent it backward into an impossible position. It hit the ground behind him with the players trying desperately to save it one last time.

“Tanaka-san, server up!” Hinata turned immediately and the court went quiet.

There wasn’t another rally to be played. There wasn’t another serve between them and Nekoma. That last point, unsatisfying and because of mistake on Nekoma’s part—all of it was over.

“It’s over, you idiot.” Kageyama managed to whisper.

Kuroo fell backward in the box on the side of the court, exhausted and glad to be done, even if it was a loss.

Kenma sat down on the court where he stood and stared. Karasuno themselves crashed to the ground. There was no cheering or celebrating, it was simple quiet as the realization washed over all of them.

“No matter which of us lost, or whish of us won—no one was going to die. No one’s coming back to life either. Evil won’t flourish across the land. The world won’t be destroyed. It isn’t like we had a grand adventure across a sprawling fantasy world—we just ran in circles in a rectangle eighteen meters long and nine meters wide. We tried desperately hard to make a ball hit the floor in one spot and not hit the floor in another. It was the most fun I’ve had in my life.” Kenma laid down across the floor, similar to everyone else on the court, winning and losing teams. “Kuro? Thanks for teaching me how to play volleyball. I like it.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on! Back it up!”

“Why are you so mad?” Kenma laughed. The rest of Nekoma joined in as the realization sunk in that they all wanted to be on that court playing and winning and enjoying a game.

“Line up!” The referee called.

“Thank you for the game!” Both teams bowed to each other across the court, then they walked, agonizingly slow to meet each other in the middle and shake hands.

Each one of them greeted each other as if they hadn’t won or lost a game. Individually as friends. Kuroo approached Tsukishima, hand out, and they stared at each other for a long while before the omega took the offered hand.

* * *

Set 1. 25 – 27

Set 2. 26 – 24

Set 3. 25 – 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter I forewarned you about back in chapter 16 has arrived. LOL Maybe it wasn't as mean as I made it out to be? Personally, I'm excited for Chapter 24. I know what happens there.


	24. Chapter 24

“Kuroo-san,” Tsukishima called as the third year moved away. The alpha’s head snapped up and he stood stock still. Kei reached up hesitantly and pulled him into a soft kiss. It ended after only a couple seconds, but Tetsurō grabbed the blond and held him in a tight hug. He pressed his own scent glands against the omega’s and did his best to hold back his tears.

Somewhere, in the back of the arena, he could hear the announcers talking about Nekoma getting a lot of action during nationals.

“You’re gonna make people think I threw the match on purpose.”

“Did you?”

“No,” he scoffed and pulled back to look Tsukishima in the eye. “You’d hate me if I did. “

“You got that right.” Kei stepped away. “I have to go back to my team now—we need to talk later about everything.”

“Of course.” Kuroo gave him a lopsided grin. “I’ll sit with you until your next game.”

Their teams moved off the court, but stayed milling around on the sidelines where they were allowed to watch up close. Despite starting their game well after Karasuno and Nekoma’s, Fukurodani was already on their second set match point. As they wandered over to watch, Fukurodani won and made their own way off the court.

Bokuto immediately headed for Kuroo when he spotted him.

“While watching your game, I told myself there’s no way I could let you guys one-up me. I’m gonna play a game that’ll make the crowd go even wilder than yours did.” Bokuto declared to the other two captains.

“Bokuto-san!” Hinata interrupted.

“I noticed your game went on for a very, very long time.” Akaashi commented to Kenma as they moved around the barrier into the free roam territory.

“Yeah! Every time I looked over, you guys were in the middle of some stupidly long rally.” Konoha pitched in.

“You’re telling me,” Kenma yawned and dropped forward. “I want to sleep.”

Akaashi turned around to face Tsukishima. “I saw you putting in quite a bit of effort too, Tsukishima. You were really flying.”

“Huh? Well—I see you won in straight sets again. That’s to be expected, I guess.” The blond deflected. He didn’t want to admit in front of everyone that he was trying so hard partially to get Kuroo’s attention.

“Bokuto-san looks like he’s in good form.” Kenma pitched in.

“Yes, he’s doing quite well. Better than I’ve ever seen him, actually.”

“I can’t believe you guys have another game today, Shōyō.” Kenma let out a soft whine.

“Hell day.” Tanaka agreed.

“Two nationals level games on the same day—it’s insane.” Kozume looked around for a safe place to sit.

“I agree.” Kei wiped a bit of lingering sweat away from his neck.

“Here.” Kuroo walked up behind him and wrapped his Nekoma jacket around his frame. “You shouldn’t get cold when you have another match coming.”

“You know I play for Karasuno, right?” Tsukishima tugged the jacket a little tighter around his frame.

“I think red suits you a little more—if only you’d come to Nekoma.”

“I would’ve lost today.”

“Nah, with both of us together, Karasuno wouldn’t stand a chance.” Kuroo reached between them and threaded their fingers together. “Come on, we need to talk and you need to eat lunch. Let’s go find somewhere quiet.”

“Tsukishima!” Suga called after them. “I’ll text you our location so you can meet up with us when you’re done.”

“Thanks.”

Kuroo led them through the throngs of people into the cafeteria where he ordered meals for the both of them. They found a table near the back where they could sit and eat. The alpha was reluctant to let go of Tsukishima’s hand, but he had to in order to handle his chopsticks.

“Kuroo-san,” Kei started.

“Mmm?”

“I’m sorry.”

Unease spread across the alpha’s features. “What for?”

“For everything. I shouldn’t have come to Tokyo for my heat when we didn’t discuss it previously. I shouldn’t have pushed you away either or blamed you for my presenting as an omega. I’m also sorry for not listening to what you told me and assuming that you and Kenma-san where in a relationship as more than friends.” Tsukishima fixated on his food and pushed it around the bento box absentmindedly.

Kuroo laid his chopsticks across the box. “I’m sorry too—for making you think that I didn’t want you. I should’ve been more considerate and understanding, but I wasn’t. I’m sorry for not being a better person and attempting to sit down with you to have this discussion.”

“I kept pushing you away—you don’t have anything to apologize for.”

“Tsukki, we could get caught in this loop for the next hour. Let’s say we both accept each other’s apologies and have our starting point be right here, right now.”

“I don’t want to try and erase or forget anything that’s happened over the last year. Our starting point was the day I presented and you went into rut—I want to preserve that. Right now, is merely the start of a real relationship, maybe?”

Kuroo put his hand under Tsukishima’s jaw and lifted his face. “I can work with that.”

“Hey, aren’t you guys from Nekoma and Karasuno?” A woman with a reporter badge approached their table. She eyed the jacket Tsukishima wore. “At least, I thought you were on Karasuno’s side.”

“We are,” Kuroo admitted hesitantly.

“Your match was insane—it was weird how Karasuno didn’t celebrate after they won.”

“Too damn tired.” Kei mumbled and it brought a grin to Kuroo’s lips.

“We were all tired after that game and in previous matches between us, Karasuno has never won a set. I think they were in shock.”

“Oh, you two were the ones that kissed. Are you in a relationship with each other?”

“Kind of,” Kuroo shrugged uneasily looking to the omega for confirmation.

“We’re soulmates.” Tsukishima leveled her with a short glare.

“Oh! So, you threw the match?”

Tetsurō opened his mouth to respond, but the blond beat him to it.

“I thought you said you watched the match. Clearly, you didn’t if you think Kuroo-san threw the match. If either of us pulled that shit, we’d be mad at each other, ourselves, and we’d have our teammates riding on us. We both wanted to win and continue in the tournament.” Tsukishima stood up. “If you’ll excuse us, I have another match to play.”

They gathered up their lunch things and moved away from the noisy reporter. Tsukishima checked his phone and as expected, Karasuno’s location under the stands as they waited for their next game was already on his phone screen.

“You should rest—Kamomedai isn’t going to be easy to beat.” Kuroo took Kei’s hand in his again. They started to head back into the gymnasium, but as they passed by a particularly dark corridor, the omega tugged on his hand and pulled him into it.

“What are we doing in here?”

“And here, I thought that would be obvious.” Tsukishima whispered. He leaned against the wall and lowered himself the couple centimeters to Kuroo’s height. Kei pulled Tetsurō toward him and hope the alpha would take the hint. He already kissed him once today, it was his turn to initiate. Luckily for him, Kuroo did pick up on the hint and leaned in to press a soft kiss against his lips.

Several innocent kisses later and the alpha decided it was enough. He swiped his tongue across Tsukishima’s mouth and the omega parted his lips immediately. Their tongues moved against each other and Kei hesitantly reached up to run his fingers through Kuroo’s hair. He tugged experimentally on the strands and was pleased with the groan that rumbled out of Tetsurō’s chest. The alpha leaned more of his weight into the omega and they stayed locked until Tsukishima decided he couldn’t breathe. He pushed Kuroo away as softly as he could and did his best to steady his breathing.

“Come on, you need to rest.” The alpha tugged him away from the wall.

As they started to head out of the small corridor, a couple students from Nekoma passed by.

“Kuroo-senpai was so cool today! Did you see those serves he pulled off?”

“Of course, I did—I mean, what an alpha with all those kill blocks too. Maybe I’ll confess to him next week.”

Tsukishima bit his lip and they both froze in the hallway.

“Didn’t that kid from the other school kiss him though?”

“As if they’re together.” The other girl tossed her long ponytail behind her. “I read the pamphlet they had—he’s just some first year from another prefecture. Probably got a little attracted and clingy. There’s no way they’ll last.”

Kei stared at Kuroo’s frame and ran his eyes along the mating gland, just peeking up over his collar. If he bit him there, he’d claim the alpha as his and then no one would be able to say anything else about them—Kuroo would be entirely his and if anyone looked twice at him, they’d know he belonged to someone.

Tsukishima felt his smaller canines lengthen, ready to legitimately claim the alpha, but just as he leaned in, Tetsurō turned around.

“Tsukki, what are you doing?”


	25. Chapter 25

Tsukishima didn’t know what he was doing. That was the answer to Kuroo’s question, but he figured the alpha wouldn’t take it at face value.

“My instincts took over—I wanted to claim you.”

“Is it because of those girls? You know I’ll turn them down.”

“I’m just scared that you’ll end up wanting to be with someone else. I’m not exactly a normal omega and clearly people already think it’s weird if we are together.” He fixated his gaze on the floor instead.

“Kei, I don’t want anyone else, except you. I haven’t since I found out that you’re my soulmate. That’s not going to change any time in the future either—it didn’t change the last several months.” Kuroo wrapped his arms around the blond and held him in a tight hug. “I need you to have a little faith in us.”

Tsukishima nodded into the alpha’s shoulder and gripped at his uniform. He really should change to not catch a cold, but Tsukishima liked his jacket too much to want to take it off.

“Here,” Kuroo tilted his head and latched his mouth onto the scent gland behind Kei’s earlobe. He nipped at the skin and sucked until a small bruise started to form. “I’ll mark you as mine like this so you can feel a little more at ease. If we bit each other now, we won’t be able to be separated. One of us would have to move prefectures.”

“Can I leave one on you, too?”

“Of course. This is a two-way street.”

Once they both had a small hickey on their skin, Kuroo directed them through the crowds until they reached Karasuno’s resting place. Both Daichi and Asahi were already asleep in a couple chairs and Suga held out Tsukishima’s jacket to him.

“You should let Kuroo go get changed so he doesn’t get sick.” He spoke softly and looked around for anything else the omega needed. “You should change too—everyone else already has. Here’s your bag.”

“Thanks.”

The pair hurried off to the locker rooms to get out of their sweaty clothes. Tsukishima reluctantly handed Kuroo’s jacket back, but was pleasantly surprised when the alpha softly scented his Karasuno one before he put it on. Being near naked in close proximity led to several soft kisses, but they couldn’t exchange in PDA because of other teams also using the space.

They returned to Sugawara and Tsukishima joined Asahi and Daichi in the chairs where he could take a light nap. He dug around in his bag for his headphones and sleeping mask to help block out the light of the stadium.

“You don’t mind, right?” He glanced uncertainly at Kuroo.

“Of course not. You can use my shoulder if you need. I’ll be right here.”

“Kei!” A familiar voice called through the people. He stood up and spotted his brother across the crowd, moving forward with Yachi as his pass onto the floor.

“Nii-san,” Tsukishima lifted a hand to catch his attention. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to watch your match. That was amazing, what you did against Nekoma.” Akiteru froze as he pushed through the crowd. “Ah, Nekoma.”

“Ah, Tsukishima-san.” Kuroo stood as well and greeted him with a formal bow. “I’m Kuroo Tetsurō.”

“Kei’s soulmate.” The elder sucked on his teeth and leveled the alpha with a firm glare.

“I see my reputation precedes me.” He wiped his sweaty palms onto his gym pants, hesitant to straighten, so he remained bowed. “I promise to do my best to take care of Tsukki going forward.”

It was quiet for a long while as the two brothers exchanged expressive looks.

“As expected of you, of course.” Akiteru finally decided. “You can stand up, Kuroo-san.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“How are you feeling before your next game?”

Tsukishima yawned. “Tired. I’m taking a nap.”

He returned to his seat and placed the blindfold over his eyes before he followed it with his headphones. He messed around with his phone for a while before he leaned back and used his jacket as a blanket.

“I was the one that picked Kei up from the train station last August after he spent his heat away from his nest—from safety.”

Kuroo wasn’t sure he was supposed to reply.

“If Kei’s decided to trust you again after that, I’m going to follow him as well. If you hurt my brother again, Kuroo-san, you’ll be answering directly to me.”

“Understood, sir.” Tetsurō nodded stiffly. “I have no plans to make the same mistakes going forward. I want to devote everything to him.”

“I suppose I have to accept that for now.” Akiteru sighed. “I’m going to get something to drink and then go back to the stands. Your game was really amazing today—I do have to thank you for teaching Kei so much over the summer. You helped him where I couldn’t.”

“It was nothing.” He brushed off. “Tsukki is the amazing one. I’m glad that he considers me worthy to stand by his side.”

“You’re slowly proving my assumptions about you wrong—I like that. Keep it up.” Then the older man disappeared into the crowd and Kuroo was left alone with three sleeping players. Tsukishima’s head drifted to the side and the alpha gently pulled him in. If it was all he could provide, Kuroo would be the best pillow anyone ever used.

A few people asked him if he needed anything while Tsukishima dozed, but he turned it all down. He had a game on his phone and he could message his teammates in the meantime.

Word already spread to the other schools about their loss and he received several condolence texts from other captains he kept in contact with. He didn’t bother to reply to them, but he felt comforted by them all the same.

Kei slipped off his shoulder and down to his lap. Yamaguchi helped him adjust the omega’s position so he wouldn’t pull any muscles during his nap and risk playing badly in their next game. While he continued to play mindless games, he softly rubbed the scent glands on the blond’s neck and ran his fingers through his hair.

“You ever gonna tell Tsukishima you prefer long hair?” Yaku teased from behind him.

“On a woman sure—but Tsukki is perfect. I wouldn’t dare change him in any way. Besides, that was a couple years ago back before soulmates and even before I presented. Fate knew it would be handing me a great hand.”

“I can’t decide if soulmates are overrated.”

“That’s because you and Lev both haven’t slipped up yet to sync.” Kuroo grinned at the omega.

“Hardee-har-har.” Morisuke rolled his eyes. “Why does everyone assume we’re going to be together?”

“Because you both work well together, surprisingly. Though, if you do end up dating him, you should cut down on the abuse a little bit. I’d hate to call the cops on you.”

“I should call the cops on you for verbal abuse.” The male yawned. “I think Tsukishima-kun has the right idea after our match.”

“It’s not a bad one at all.” Kuroo agreed.

“I’m kind of sad.” Kai announced as he joined them.

“About what?” Yaku folded his arms and gazed over the games.

“This isn’t quite how I imagined us going home after getting here.” Kai took a seat on the ground next to Kuroo’s chair.

“Technically, we’re already home.” Tetsurō provided helpfully.

“Our last match as third-years.” Yaku dropped his stance. “I’m glad it was against Karasuno.”

“Daichi! Asahi! It’s time to start warming up again. It looks like our match will be coming up.” Suga called from the sidelines of an ongoing match.

Kuroo tapped Tsukishima on the cheek and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Hey, sleeping beauty, time to wake up. You’ve got warm-ups for your next match.”

“Next time, just wake me up with the kiss.” Kei mumbled.

“Hey, Tsukishima-san, what do you think about Yaku and Lev?” Kai pushed himself off the ground. “Him and Kuroo are still debating it at length.”

“What’s there to debate?” Tsukishima stretched and pulled off his headphones and mask before he shoved them in his bag and replaced his glasses on his face. “Yaku-san like licorice, Lev smells like licorice—there won’t be any complaining in that department.”

“I hate you all.” Yaku faked a tantrum and started to stalk off.

“Hey, Yaku, do you and Kuroo want to join me for a walk around the venue?” Kai held out a hand to help their captain out of the chair.

“Sure.”

“I’ll see you after your match.” Kuroo pressed one last kiss to Tsukishima’s cheek before the omega was left to start warm-ups with his team on the sidelines of the official games.


	26. Chapter 26

They lost.

Kamomedai got the better of them and they left the arena with a ticket home the next morning. As soon as they walked off the court and back to the locker rooms, Kuroo was there to greet Tsukishima. The blond tucked himself into his arms and fought back the tears from the pain of losing their game.

“Your game was impressive.” Kuroo rubbed soothing circles across his back.

“We have to go home.” He sniffled.

“That’s not the end of the world. I’m sure you guys will be back at the next tournament too.”

“If we go home, then we’re leaving Tokyo. Leaving you. I wanted to keep winning so we could be together a little longer.” Kei tightened his fists into Kuroo’s jacket and the alpha held him a little tighter.

“When are you heading back?”

“Coach said it won’t be until tomorrow.”

“Then, I’ll tell you the plan.” Tetsurō pulled away. “With permission from your team, I’m taking you on a date. We’ll spend as much time together as we can before you have to leave.”

“Alone?” He was a little worried about being with him after resolving their fights.

“We don’t have to be if you don’t want. I can invite Bokuto and Akaashi—I know you’re comfortable with them.”

“Okay.”

“Come on, let’s go get clearance from your team. I’ll text them on the way.”

They both headed into the locker rooms and Tsukishima changed into his street clothes as fast as he could. Ukai hesitantly agreed to let them go off around Tokyo because they would have Bokuto and Akaashi with them, then they were on their way out of the venue where the other pair for their double date waited. Akaashi leaned casually against the guard rail; when they stepped up in front of them, the omega pulled Tsukishima into a quick platonic scenting session and asked him how he was doing.

“A lot better.” Kei gave him a small grin and the shorter omega looped his arm through the blond’s.

“We’re going to get something to eat first and foremost.” He marched off in the direction of the main street. “Alpha’s treat, of course.”

“Akaashi,” Bokuto whined. “You’re threatening my wallet.”

“Are you saying you’re not going to buy _your omega_ something to eat?” He leveled the alpha with a blank stare.

Kōtarō swallowed hard. “Of course not, this alpha provides for his mate.”

Tsukishima coughed. “Whipped.”

Keiji let out a short laugh and continued to guide them down the street. “What do you feel like eating, Tsukishima-san?”

“I don’t really care. You can choose if you have a preference.”

“What’s your favorite food?” Akaashi inquired as he led them to a small udon shop.

“Ah—strawberry shortcake.”

“Then we’re going to a sweets shop after we have a proper meal.” The omega decided.

“We don’t have to.” He tried to deny, embarrassed to make Kuroo spend a lot of money on feeding him while on their date.

“Don’t be ridiculous—this is a date. It’s only right to get spoiled every once in a while.”

“Hey Akaashi, read any good manga recently?” Kuroo taunted from behind them.

“If you’re trying to embarrass me, you’re failing.” The omega replied. “Yes, I have found a few new series I like. _Aho g__āru, Bungō Sutorei Doggusu, Guruti Kuraun, Rogu Horaizun, Mobu Saiku Hyaku, Owari no Serafu, Wanpanman_. Among others.”

“Otaku.” Tsukishima decided. Tetsurō snorted behind him.

“Mmm, yeah. I want to be a manga editor when I graduate.”

“Not a mangaka?”

“I can’t draw.” Keiji pushed open the door to the little shop.

“It’s impressive that Bokuto still loves you.” Kuroo shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Of course, I do!” Bokuto interjected immediately. “Akaashi is going to make it big as an editor and I’m going to be famous for playing volleyball.”

“What do you want to do for a career, Tsukishima-san?”

“I haven’t thought about it all that much, yet, but I’m considering working in a museum.” He let out a short yawn, a result of their two matches played.

“Why a museum?” Kuroo pulled out the chair for Kei to sit in at a small table in the back of the restaurant.

The blond muttered something under his breath and they all leaned in to hear him say it again. “I like dinosaurs.”

Kuroo had the urge to laugh, but felt it would be the wrong move in their tentative relationship and he bit it down with a throat clearing. “That’s a good reason to get into a museum—you’d know a lot about the showcases and curation. You should go for it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, if it’s going to make you happy. Why wouldn’t you want to enjoy work?” The alpha gave him a wide grin and he was rewarded with Tsukishima taking his hand under the table.

“What are you going to do, for a career?”

“I’m considering sports medicine, or something in a similar field. I really like the sciences and I want to continue being involved in sports, somehow.”

“That sounds like you.” Kei leaned into him a little farther.

Their conversation dwindled off as they ordered food and dug into their dinner. They stopped at a small confectionary shop on their way back to Tsukishima’s hotel that Akaashi found on his phone and enjoyed different slices of cake. Kuroo bought the omega three slices of his favorite, wondering how much the omega actually liked the food, and he was surprised when he ate all of them without a single complaint.

“Huh, so you are an omega.” He commented.

“I’m insulted at you assigning such biased stereotypes on me.”

“I wouldn’t if you actually ate a good helping of _real_ food.” Kuroo pinched his stomach.

Kei felt the jitters jump directly to his dick—ready to be excited. He pushed the emotions down and instead stood and bowed to the other pair with them. “Thank you for accompanying us.”

“Of course, it’s good to see you two talking again.” Akasshi gave him a soft smile. “Have a safe trip back to Miyagi tomorrow.”

“I’ll make sure you get back to your hotel safely.” Kuroo stood immediately and took his hand. “I’ll text you later, Bo.”

Once free of their companions, and just outside the hotel building, the alpha pulled Tsukishima behind the bushes and pinned him up against the wall before kissing him deeply. One of Tetsurō’s legs pushed between his. When he moved to the omega’s neck to mark him with hickey’s, Kei responded with low moans and made small circles with his hips against the third year as he tried desperately to get off.

“Kuroo-san,” Tsukishima whined as the alpha left another mark on his shoulder. He finished it with a soft bite. “You’re going to make it look like we did something inappropriate.”

“I’m marking you so other alphas know to stay away until we see each other again.” Kuroo moved his head to the other side of his neck where he took the unmarked scent gland under his jaw hostage.

“They’re never going to last that long.”

“Let me pretend a little.” Kuroo muttered against his skin. Kei squirmed under his ministrations and held back moans and whines as his body reacted against his will. A spurt of slick escaped him and clung to his underwear. He could smell Kuroo’s arousal on him too and wondered if either of them could abstain from sex after this.

Tetsurō pulled him flush against each other before he kissed the omega. Their tongues tangled together and Tsukishima pulled at the alpha’s hair.

“There, I think that’ll hold them off.” Kuroo whispered when he pulled away.

“I don’t.” Kei ran his fingers along the man’s jaw.

“You don’t?”

“Well, this will keep the alpha’s away, but what about the omegas?”

“You have omegas coming after you?”

“Not me.” He leaned in and latched his teeth onto Kuroo’s earlobe. The alpha shuddered and bore his neck for the omega to leave more marks. Tsukishima took his turn, and his time, to leave large and careful marks on the third-year’s scent glands. His smaller canines scratched at Tetsurō’s skin, the omega more bite focused than him.

On the last hickey, almost on top of his mating gland, Kuroo came with a grunt and made a mess of the inside of his pants. Kei looked pleased with the results and the alpha couldn’t complain about it himself.

Teeth marks marred his bruises and once finished, Tetsurō admired them in the selfie camera of his phone.

“I’m disappointed you have to go home.” Kuroo nuzzled into the omega’s shoulder. “We just got everything worked out between us. It feels like if you leave, we’ll be back to square one.”

“We won’t be—now that we understand each other, we can move forward in our relationship instead of back. Even if we can’t see each other.”

“It’s ironic that you’re the one sure about that now.”

“Shut up.” Tsukishima pulled away. “I’ll text you when I’m back in Miyagi.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having a sanity hiatus after this chapter. I don't have anything else written for any of my fics and I've lost all motivation while in quarantine... I also got offered my first official job as a teacher! As a result, I'm designating a lot of time to building my school year lesson plans. Hopefully I shall be inspired soon!


	27. Chapter 27

Tsukishima chewed his tongue in his mouth and hovered his finger over the call button on the screen. It was February now and he would be going into heat in a couple hours. He stayed home as a precaution and wondered if Kuroo did something similar. If he called and the alpha was at school, he wouldn’t answer, but he didn’t know if he should call.

He tossed his phone to the side on the bed and stared out the window at the empty street below him. His parents decided to take a short vacation during his heat to give him privacy as home since his brother was in the middle of exam season.

Kei pursed his lips and scooped his phone back off the sheets and pressed the phone symbol under Kuroo’s name before he could change his mind.

“Tsukki?” Kuroo’s voice flooded the line and Tsukishima felt his muscles relax.

“Hello.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Kei relaxed back into his pillows. “It’s nice hearing your voice.”

“It is nice hearing from you. Is there something bothering you?” He heard Kuroo’s bed creak under him as he sat down.

“Not really,” then mumbled and rushed: “IguessIwasjustkindofmissingyou.”

“What was that Tsukki? I didn’t quite catch it.” The grinning smirk on his face bled into his voice and he received an annoyed huff from the omega as a response.

“Shut up, you ass.”

“We can try it that way if you want.”

“What?” Tsukishima rolled over onto his back.

“Uh—my mind provided the dirty joke before I could stop it. Sorry.” Kuroo rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow. “Forget I said anything.”

“You know how biology works, don’t you? Between alphas and omegas?” Tsukishima’s cheeks turned a faint pink.

“Biology is my favorite subject, of course I know how it works.” Kuroo scoffed into the phone. “I was just offering because I didn’t know if it’d make you more comfortable.”

The blond remained quiet as he contemplated the option.

“Tsukki? Did I scare you away?”

“No—but after thinking about it—I don’t know if I really want to do that.”

“Oh,” Kuroo let out a loud and long exhale. “Okay.”

“I’ll let you know if I change my mind?”

“Yeah,” he was still breathless. “Yeah, do that.”

Tsukishima curled himself around one of his pillows and resisted the urge to push his blankets into a small and comforting nest.

“How are you feeling?” The third year’s bed creaked as he rolled over again.

“Fine? Am I supposed to be feeling something right now?” Kei held the pillow a little tighter and loosened his grip on his phone.

“Well—I mean, you’re going into heat, aren’t you?” Kuroo fluttered around his words. “I’m approaching my rut over here.”

“I suppose I am.”

“You suppose? What does that mean?” Tetsurō tugged at the bottom of his shirt. The heat was rising for him and hearing Tsukishima’s voice accelerated it.

“I don’t know—I’ve never really been that bothered by it on the first day. The only exception was when I first met you.” Kei shifted and rolled a little more onto his back. “I spent the one in August crying eighty percent of the time. Can’t say I have all that much experience with only three heats under my belt.”

“Sorry about that.” Kuroo pulled the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker phone. “Although, I have to wonder, why did you call me?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“Do you want to take a guess?”

“It’s just—I was thinking about you and I thought it would be nice to talk a bit.” Tsukishima lowered his voice despite knowing there was no one to overhear him.

“I’m not against the talking thing, but right now your voice is kind of doing other things to me.” He yanked off his shirt and reached for his sweats. He stayed home from school that day and didn’t bother to put on proper clothes.

“Oh—I didn’t think about that.” Kei bit his lip. “Kuroo-san?”

“Yeah?”

“What would you do right now, if I was there with you?”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kuroo sunk down on the edge of his bed only in his boxers.

“Well, it’s just ‘cause right now I think I’d just like to be wrapped up in your arms.” Tsukishima swallowed. There was no turning back from his decision now.

“Okay, so we’re doing this.” Tetsurō rolled over onto his back. “What would I do if you were here right now?”

“Yeah. I’m curious.”

“I’d listen to whatever you want.” The alpha kicked his blankets away to the bottom of his bed where they wouldn’t be in his way.

“Sap.”

“Sure.” Kuroo laughed. “If you want me to hold you, I will. I’d wrap you up and hold you tight and pepper kisses on your neck.”

“Oh.”

“I’d tangle my legs through yours, so I could hold you closer. You’d probably feel my interest on your thigh—like back at nationals.”

Tsukishima felt his own body perk up in interest and he bit his lip to hold in a whine. “Then what?”

“I’d slide my hands further around your waist and probably start to move them down to your thighs. My lips and tongue would be on your scent gland, then I’d reach up and pull you into an over the shoulder kiss.” Kuroo whispered into the phone. “Is there something you want to do?”

“I would—put my hands on yours.” Tsukishima tried to follow the alpha’s whispered patterns with his own hands, but found his clothes to be in the way.

“Anything else?”

“Well—by now I’d be feeling a little bit of something and I’d probably grind into you.”

Tetsurō let out a soft moan as he pushed his hand against his crotch. “I wish I could smell you, right now.”

“Are you touching yourself?”

“Isn’t that kind of the point?”

“Where would you touch me?” Kei adjusted his position on his bed and switched his phone over to speaker.

“Tsukki?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure this is what you want to do? We haven’t seen each other since nationals and the first thing you do is call me for phone sex during your heat?”

“Kuroo-san, I came to Tokyo for my second heat to spend it with you. I know it may seem like we’re jumping into this, but I really like you.” Tsukishima inhaled a shaky breath. “I want to do this—I want to hear what you sound like. I want you to talk me through it.”

“You promise this isn’t going to ruin what we built?”

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait to post a chapter until I had the fic finished to make it easier and not have the huge breaks again, but it's hard for me to type right now because the backspace, enter key, apostrophe/quotation mark, and #9 intermittently stop working on my keyboard. I've had this laptop for a year and a month and more and more things keep breaking on it... Never buy a laptop from PC Laptops. That's all I can say.
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter! I'm not sure when the next one will come. I have a lot going on in my life right now and the broken keyboard is not helping! I'm trying to power through it.


	28. Chapter 28

They fell asleep talking to each other after exhausting themselves with a single round over the phone. Tsukishima was awoken in the morning by Kuroo calling his name over the line as he worked himself over.

“Kuroo-san, it’s too early.” He whined into the phone. He faintly registered the call as ongoing for over twelve hours.

“You can go back to sleep if you need it.”

“How am I supposed to go to sleep when I hear you moaning my name?”

“That’s your problem to figure out.” Kuroo’s smirk bled into his voice. “Are you sure you aren’t weirded out after last night?”

“Fucking—do you have a confirmation kink or something? How many times do I have to tell you—if I didn’t consent to this, I wouldn’t be here talking to you on the phone. I’m okay with what’s happening.”

Tetsurō closed his eyes. “I’ll see if my dad will give me some money to take you on a proper date once this is all over.”

“Sure.”

* * *

Somehow, Kuroo did manage to convince his dad to give him money for a trip to Miyagi.

“Hey,” Tetsurō greeted when Tsukishima opened his door on the early Saturday morning.

“Shouldn’t you be studying for exams?” Kei already has his shoes on. He doesn’t offer for the alpha to step inside as he steps into the morning spring light and closes the door behind him.

“And miss seeing my moonshine in person?” Kuroo offers a hand for him to take. “I did bring my study materials—I used them on the train ride here and I’ll use them on the way home.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe you.”

“I would try and prove it to you, but my brain just blanked on what I studied.”

“This is why I don’t believe you.” A smile crept onto Tsukishima’s face. “What are you planning for today?”

“I actually want to save that as a surprise.” Kuroo held out a hand to the omega for him to take. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

“I had a bowl of rice and some miso soup.” Kei took his boyfriend’s hand and pushed his fingers between the alpha’s.

“With that small of a breakfast, I’m going to bet you’re still hungry.” Tetsurō pulled him along with a little spring in his step.

“Not really.” Tsukishima stared at the ground.

“If you don’t eat you won’t be strong enough to beat me when we play university teams.” The alpha directed his attention to the pastry shops.

“What if we play on the same team?”

Kuroo paused his search to look at his boyfriend. “Well, then I could make sure first hand you eat enough food to crush our enemies—side by side.”

“I lose either way.” The omega pursed his lips and received a quick kiss as a response. Kuroo ginned, then chose a shop where they could get a few early morning meal items.

They stood outside the shop on the streets of Sendai with warm meat buns clutched in their hands. Tetsurō managed to juggle his breakfast into one hand, before he offered it to the blond to take and hold. Tsukishima hesitantly took his hand and allowed the alpha to draw soft patterns into his skin with his thumb.

“Where are you planning on taking me?” Kei finished his meat bun and tucked the trash into his pocket to throw away later.

“I heard that you like museum’s.” Kuroo grinned at the omega’s huff. “I thought it might be fun to explore some of the places you might work and you can tell me all about dinosaurs.”

“If we’re looking at Miyagi museums, does that mean you plan to move here?”

“I’m not sure where jobs may lead either of us. It can’t hurt to at least be familiar with some of the places you might live, right?” Kuroo leaned against the small counter outside the shop.

“Kuroo-san, you plan on attending university in Tokyo, right?” Tsukishima didn’t dare look at the alpha.

“I—haven’t decided yet.”

“What?”

“I mean, I took the entrance exams and put in my applications, but one of those applications went to Tohoku.”

Tsukishima’s heart jumped into his throat.

“They have volleyball, but their undergraduate courses aren’t exactly broad. They have really good graduate courses, however. Versus going to somewhere like Hosei which is in Tokyo where I already live and it offers more Sports and Health studies—which I’m interested in. Hosei has a lot more options than Tohoku, so I haven’t come to a firm conclusion on what I want to do yet.” Kuroo finished his own food and tucked his trash away.

“If you stay in Tokyo, will you wait for me to graduate?” Tsukishima tugged at his fingers.

“Of course, I would. Why wouldn’t I do any different?”

“Well, you’re you and I’m still in high school. There’d be plenty of other people around at your University—I bet you’ll have lots of omegas after you.”

“Even if I do, so what?” Kuroo wrapped his hand around Tsukishima’s. “None of them are my soulmate. I’d wait an eternity for you if I had to.”

The blond quickly leaned in and pressed a kiss to the corner of the alpha’s mouth.

“The museum won’t wait forever.” He pulled the alpha along, ears red.

“Isn’t that what they do? Wait with history?” Tetsurō laughed loudly, the mad kind of cackle from their training camps the previous summer.

“If we wait long enough, maybe you’ll be a specimen behind the glass.”

“Only if you’re there with me.”


	29. Chapter 29

They really had enough of surprises. Except, Tsukishima wanted to plan just one more. One more surprise and then they could be done—they’d be past almost every barrier in their relationship, and it would come down to just them and their future fights and whatever else they could plan. Although, some of his straying thoughts would have to wait until he was a legal adult. Otherwise their families would most likely kill them.

That was why, with preparation in his bag, Tsukishima Kei found himself on a train to Tokyo one spring day at the beginning of April.

* * *

Kuroo’s mouth found Tsukishima’s and he swept the omega into a firm kiss in his family’s genkan. His father and grandparents were only a few feet away in the kitchen. They could walk in on them at any moment, but Kei couldn’t find it in himself to care when enveloped in _his_ alpha’s arms.

“Thank you, for coming.”

“It’s only fair.” Tsukishima turned pink.

“Still—coming down to Tokyo just to celebrate my graduation is a bit much.”

“I don’t think so.” The blond stepped away and pulled off his shoes. “You are my soulmate.”

“Yeah, but—” Kuroo’s fingers wove into his. “I didn’t expect you to come.”

“That’s why it’s called a surprise.”

“Tetsurō-kun,” his grandmother called.

“Yeah?” The alpha headed into the kitchen.

“Your grandpa and I remembered something we need to take care of tonight and your father will be driving us.”

“Really?” His brows furrowed together.

“Yes, so you’ll be on your own after dinner. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I’m okay—just worried about what it is you need to do.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips and had a feeling they didn’t have anything absolutely necessary to do that night.

“Don’t worry about it.” She patted his cheek and left the room with a small hum.

Kuroo’s father, Yūichi, put a hand on his son’s shoulder and leaned into his ear. He tried to use the quietest tone possible, but Kei still picked up on the admonition of: “use a condom.”

Tetsurō turned a furious shade of red and he couldn’t get out any full words as a response. Tsukishima figured he was in a similar state.

As promised, after dinner, the two of them were left alone in the house and the atmosphere around them tensed.

“Look, Tsukki, I know what my dad said, but I didn’t know you were coming. I wasn’t exactly planning on anything—”

“I was.” Tsukishima stared fiercely at the table.

“You—what?”

“I know after everything that’s happened that I’m rushing into it pretty early in our relationship—but I want you, Kuroo-san.”

“You’re absolutely sure?”

“Yes.”

Kuroo stood up and took Tsukishima’s hand in his. “If you don’t like anything, tell me immediately and I’ll stop.”

“Okay.”

The alpha led him up the stairs to his bedroom which was sparse. He did have a video game system in the corner and the bed was a double, which surprised Kei. On the pillow was a box of condoms.

“You’re sure you didn’t expect anything?”

“I didn’t.” Kuroo turned a dark shade of red—almost matching Nekoma’s colors. “My dad must’ve put them out. I don’t really use condoms on my own.”

“You do know how to use one, right?” Tsukishima gave him a skeptical look.

“Of course, I do. I’ve used them a couple times, but it didn’t feel as good with it on—just jacking myself off, not with other people.”

Kei hummed. “If you want, we can do it without the condom.”

“Tsukki, neither of us are ready to be parents.”

“I’m not in heat. There’s a less than one percent chance of me conceiving and to be on the safe side, I brought a box of morning after pills.”

“Your preparedness is intimidating.”

“Your nervousness is showing.”

“How are you so calm? I am the senpai here.” Kuroo sat down on the edge of his bed and moved the box of condoms to the nightstand.

“I never pretended to be calm.” Tsukishima looked away and fixated his gaze on the floor. “It’s just—after last month this felt like the next logical step. I trust you.”

Tetsurō leaned forward and pressed his lips softly against Kei’s. The omega sighed into the kiss and brought his hands up to the back of Kuroo’s neck. The alpha’s hands rested on his hips and he pressed his fingers under the edge of his T-shirt and Tsukishima gasped in surprise. It gave Kuroo an opportunity to push his tongue into the younger’s mouth.

The omega pulled at the strands of black hair higher on Kuroo’s head and the alpha let out a soft groan of pleasure. Tetsurō reached forward and pulled the blond flush against him; Kei sat in his lap.

Tsukishima hesitantly used his body weight to roll them until he rested on the bottom. Their bodies at a diagonal across the bed.

“As you said before, confirmation kink,” Kuroo pulled away from the omega’s lips and moved reverently to the skin of his jaw and back to his neck. “You’re fine with what we plan to do—mate.”

Kei responded by sliding a couple fingers between the waist of the alpha’s pants and his skin. “Of course.”

Kuroo leaned back and pulled off his shirt before he helped the omega get out of his. Tsukishima’s fingers painted soft, tantalizing patterns across his pecs and down his stomach until his finger dipped curiously into his belly button. The alpha returned to placing soft kisses along the blond’s skin and he made sure to trace every bit he could find. Curious, he pressed a thumb against the omega’s nipple and was pleased with the short whine he received. Kuroo focused on the area with his fingers while his mouth trailed kisses along the omega’s stomach. He left a bite mark on the start of his hip bone and was rewarded with Tsukishima bucking his hips up into him.

Kei tugged at the alpha’s hair and he moved back up until he replaced one of his hands with his mouth. Tsukishima writhed under him and moved one of his own hands down to his erection. Kuroo caught him and smirked.

“Not yet, koibito.”

Kei glared and pushed a knee into the alpha’s bulge. Tetsurō responded by moving his mouth to the other nipple.

“Tetsu.” Tsukishima tugged at his hair again.

“Hey now, I promised to love every inch of you. I have to make good on my promise.”

“You could stand to do it a little faster.”

Kuroo complied and moved his hands down to free Tsukishima of his jeans. Kei pushed at his underwear and shimmied out of them as well. Testurō caught one of his feet. “Do you want your socks off?”

“Leave ‘em.” He gestured for the alpha to return to him and the older man complied. He pressed his lips to the omega’s and did his best to keep his still clothed hips away so he wouldn’t chafe the younger teen.

Testurō moved quicker down his stomach with kisses but stopped when his lips met Tsukishima’s erection. His tongue pressed against the slit in the head as the rest of his mouth enveloped him in warmth. Kei whined high and long as the alpha teased him.

“Tetsu,” the blond whimpered. He looked up in time with Kuroo pulling away and watched as he instead moved to Tsukishima’s ass. He curled his hands into the sheets, and he arched his back in surprise.

Kuroo pulled away and licked his lips. “That will take some getting used to.”

“Is it weird?” Tsukishima wiggled into a sitting position.

“What about this isn’t weird?” The alpha quirked his left eyebrow. “To be honest, I know very little of what I’m doing.”

“I don’t know much more than what parts go where.” Kei turned pink.

“Well—I think we’re going to need the lube.” Tetsurō turned red and retrieved the bottle from the bed.

Tsukishima blinked. “I’ve never used lube before.”

“But you were always in heat, right?” He flipped open the lid. “I don’t think there’s enough natural lubricant outside of—well that.”

“Oh.” Kei looked to the side and spotted a video game poster on the wall next to a small TV with a video game system and various volleyball DVDs. One of them rested on an angle and he startled at the name. KARASUNO VS SHIRATORIZAWA. “You have our qualifier match on DVD?”

Kuroo looked up from warming the liquid in his palms. “Oh, yeah. It’s quite an interesting match—I was incredibly impressed with you.”

“How often do you watch it?” The omega tried to goad him.

Tetsurō smirked and moved his hand back to the blond’s ass. “Are you curious how often I watch it, or in what I do when I watch it?”

“Both?” He shifted across the blankets.

“Tell me if you feel uncomfortable.” The alpha ignored his previous request and pressed a finger slowly inside the omega.

Kei squeaked and tried to wiggle away.

“You okay?”

“Yeah—I just wasn’t expecting it even if I knew.” He breathed slowly and tried his best to relax.

“We really don’t have to do this.”

Amber eyes turned on him with ferocity. “I want to.”

“Okay, okay.” Kuroo held up his hands. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Tsukishima’s lips. “Let’s try a few different things.”

It turned out kissing made Kei relax the most and Tetsurō managed to insert a while finger. When he next pulled out, he worked a second finger inside the omega and turned his lips’ attention to the scent glands on the omega’s neck. Tsukishima’s arms, over the alpha’s back, stiffened and his fingers dug into his skin as he did his best to relax and adjust to a larger penetration.

“Kuroo-san,” He gasped.

“Fuck.” Tetsurō pulled away from his neck and brought his lips back to the omega’s. He swallowed Tsukishima’s moan when he pressed in a third finger.

His fingers found the omega’s prostate and the blond let out a surprised squeak and arced his back. Kei’s hands tightened against Kuroo’s back again and his nails raked down the alpha’s back. Red angry lines left behind, but neither of them noticed too caught up in the lustful pheromones flooding the room.

“Front of back?” The older teen whispered as he reached out blindly for the box of condoms.

“What?” Tsukishima’s hands moved up to his boyfriend’s hair.

“Do you want to do this from your front or back?”

The omega side of the blond screamed for Kuroo to take him from the back. His neck throbbed at the mating gland and he took a shuddering breath. “Back.”

Kuroo pulled his fingers from the omega and reached for his belt. Tsukishima beat him there.

“You don’t want to get lube all over your clothes.” He pushed the pants down reverently and Kuroo kicked them away. Then Kei reached for his underwear, and scared, he closed his eyes before pushing them free.

“Kei.” Kuroo leaned down to talk directly into his ear. “You have to look at some point.”

Tsukishima shook his head. Tetsurō walked a few paces away and wiped off his hands using several tissues. He came back a moment later and lifted Tsukishima’s face to his. He pressed a few soft kisses to his lips.

“I want you to see me like I’ve seen you.”

His eyes opened slowly and remained trained on the alpha’s face.

“A good first step.” Kuroo smirked and reached for the box of condoms. He fought a package for a few seconds until the package ripped open. Kei followed the movement slowly and watched as the alpha stretched out the plastic like a balloon. Then his hands lowered, and the blond choked down a surprised noise. “Problem?”

“I never really believed the biology teachers.”

“Have you not been to an onsen with the other genders before?” Kuroo rolled the condom up his member and pinched the tip to make space.

“Of course—I just never bothered to look at their anatomy. Besides—I think the other omegas on my team would’ve had my head if I tried looking at their mates.”

Kuroo laughed. “Fair enough.”

He pressed several more kisses to the omega’s face as he reapplied lube to his cock.

“You’ll have to roll over if you want it from the back.”

Tsukishima hesitantly rolled over on the bed. Kuroo brought a hand up to the omega’s and twined their fingers together. He pressed his lips back to the omega’s neck and left a few hickey’s behind. It was only a few moments before he lined up his member with the omega and pushed in slowly. Kei moaned, surprised at how easily they fit together.

Tetsurō moves at a slow pace and revels in the moans and pants he draws out of the omega. He turned Kei’s face to the side and slotted their mouths back together. He tried his best to keep a steady pace, but he couldn’t help but to chase his own release. As his knot swelled, the mating gland on the back of Tsukishima’s neck called for him.

Kuroo swallowed and as his knot caught, he sunk his teeth into the blond’s shoulder instead.

Tsukishima hissed in pain and buried his face in one of the pillows.

“You didn’t come, did you?” Tetsurō asked lowly when he pulled his teeth out of the omega’s skin.

Embarrassedly, Kei shook his head.

“Sorry.”

The omega made a surprised noise. “What?” He pulled away from the pillow, voice choked by tears.

“Well—this whole thing makes me the jerk. You’re the one I’m taking care of making happy, but instead I end up taking for myself.” Kuroo rolled them over onto their side and trailed his hands across the omega’s stomach.

“But I’m the omega. Aren’t I supposed to be the one happy to just get a knot?” Kei brought up his own hands to dry his face and knocked his glasses askew.

“That just seems unfair.” Tetsurō kissed his cheek. “Let me help you.”

“How?”

“I like to think I’m pretty good at hand jobs, but I’ve only ever practiced on myself.” He chuckled and dropped one of his hands to Tsukishima’s cock.

“You don’t have to.”

“Of course, I don’t. But I want to.”

* * *

“I’m craving a midnight snack. What are your thoughts?” Kuroo asked as they washed up in the bathroom.

“I’m thinking it’s only nine o’clock, which is hardly midnight.”

“Okay, I’m craving a nine o’clock snack. What do you want?” Tetsurō sprayed the blond with the shower hose.

“Something simple—like a strawberry shake.” Kei used his towel to dry off the arm the alpha got wet.

“Easy enough, should we go to Maji Burger? I want something greasy.”

“Sure.” The blond waited for the other to dress, but when he returned to the bedroom, he colored at the state of the sheets.

“You ready to go?” Kuroo appeared with his house keys in hand.

“Do we need to put your sheets in the wash first?” He pointed hesitantly as the mess of blankets.

“I’ll take care of it when we get back. Then I can change them and go straight to bed.”

Kei nodded along with a sleepy smile.

“Come on, the sooner we eat, the sooner we can sleep.”

They ended up running into Yaku in Maji Burger on his own late-night snack run.

“You have an awful lot of food for just yourself.” Tsukishima looked at the bags suspiciously.

“So, I eat a lot. Sue me.” The libero shrugged. “I’m frankly surprised to see you in Tokyo.”

“I came down to celebrate Kuroo-san’s graduation.” Kei smiled softly when Kuroo hooked his pinky through Kei’s.

“Fucking hell, you two finally had sex, didn’t you?” Morisuke narrowed his eyes.

“It’s scary how well you can read us.”

“Well, you two have fun. I’ve got to get home.”

“Yeah, sure.” The pair watched him leave.

“I don’t think he’s eating all of that by himself.” Tsukishima decided as Kuroo picked out a booth for them to sit at.

“Nah, he definitely isn’t.” He waved to Lev outside the window and received a glare from Yaku. Kei missed the exchange having laid his head on the table for a short nap.

“What are we going to do with you in university?”

“What do you mean?”

“How is this going to work?” The blond gestured lazily between them.

“I’m thinking of getting a part-time job—I want to be able to visit you and come see your matches. As well as Nekoma matches. I don’t think much has to change, but we may have to try and plan trips around our heats and ruts. Unless you don’t want to spend those together.”

“I haven’t really thought about it yet.” Tsukishima yawned.

“Well, to be honest, we have plenty of time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have legitimately been working on this for months. I struggled so bad with the sex scene and it ended up more soft-core than anything else. Probably more along of what you expect in an M fic. But I mean, I've agonized over this chapter long enough. Also, I just kind of lost a little bit of interest in it because I struggled so much. This is a really shitty way to end the story, but I couldn't think of anything else.
> 
> The next chapter is just a scene I took out of the storyline because it didn't end up working. I thought you guys might enjoy it anyway? It's not really anything.
> 
> I am currently working on a huge project which crosses over Kuroko no Basuke and Haikyuu, but I don't plan to post it until I'm done with it. For context, I'm on page 64 and just shy of 18k words and only 5 chapters in. I'm really excited about it. I know I have tons of other fics to write, but I'm struggling so much with sex scenes in most of them, that I just lost the will to write. I keep trying to find sex scenes I wrote in other stories which work, so I can copy and paste them--except none of them fit, so I pretty much shot myself in the foot. If you're interested in the upcoming fic (it's a Samurai, A/B/O, Soulmates AU--yes 3 in 1) then consider subscribing directly to me so you get all my updates instead of just ones for specific stories. I don't know how to check those stats, so I'm not doing it for numbers. LOL Hope to see you all again soon as I try and finish more stories.


	30. Deleted Scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is the deleted scene for this fic. I once wanted to try and rework it in, but it never did end up functioning with the storyline.

Tsukishima searched online to get the address for Nekoma High School and then chose a small café in the vicinity of it. In a roundabout fashion, he got ahold of the Nekoma practice schedule and compared it with theirs. Nekoma would have an early morning practice Saturday morning and it was a fourth Saturday, so there were no optional classes that day. For Tsukishima, Karasuno was on a rest day. He made plans to travel to Tokyo in the morning during Nekoma’s practice hours and arrive just in time get to the café and text Kuroo.

His plan went off without a hitch and he didn’t have plans to go back to Miyagi until Sunday—he just didn’t know where to stay overnight. He had a small bag and figured he could text Akaashi if it came down to it. Tsukishima settled himself at a corner in the café with a fairly large slice of strawberry shortcake and tea. He took out his phone and shakily typed out a message.

**Kuroo-san, this is Tsukishima Kei.**

He waited for several long minutes before his phone vibrated and danced across the table.

**Tsukishima! Hey, you messaged me. What’s up?**

**Are you near this café by chance?**

***Location Sent***

**It’s semi-close to where I am, why?**

**They let me order something.**

**Huh?**

**What do you mean?**

**Did you order something for me to pick up?**

**Something for you to pick up.**

**Okay. Why are you ordering me something from a café?**

**Akaashi-san suggested it.**

He hadn’t.

**Oh?**

**I’ll head over then and see what Akaashi suggested.**

**How’s your Saturday going?**

**It’s good. It’s nice not having classes today, or practice.**

**You didn’t have practice?**

**I’m just getting changed.**

**Yaku’s getting mad at me for texting.**

Tsukishima’s mind betrayed him by providing him several plausible options for what changing after practice would be like if he went to the same school at Kuroo. His entire face turned red and he stuffed another bite of shortcake into his mouth.

**Yaku-san sounds like a mother.**

**You might have him hunting you down after a comment like that.**

**I deal with Hinata every day. I can take him.**

**Ha. I’m sure you can.**

**Yaku disagrees BTW.**

**Tell him to sleep with one eye open tonight.**

**Wwww**

Tsukishima set his phone down and stared out the window of the café. It was a terribly casual conversation, more so than he’d have with anyone else—except maybe Yamaguchi, but there was something easy about falling into a conversation with Kuroo.

**Hey, do you wanna maybe talk on the phone?**

**I’m in a public space.**

**Oh, right, yeah, don’t want to disturb anyone around you.**

**What are you doing?**

**Waiting.**

**On?**

Tsukishima didn’t reply—there was no way he could keep up this game without Kuroo finding out. It was another couple of minutes before his phone vibrated again.

**Sorry.**

**What are you apologizing for?**

**I figured I made you feel awkward by asking too many questions.**

**Anyway, I’m almost to the café. I can’t wait to see what Akaashi suggested.**

**You don’t need to apologize.**

**And, maybe, Akaashi didn’t actually suggest it?**

**Oh?**

**Now you have me more curious.**

**I don’t know what to expect if it’s something you chose out especially for me.**

**I’m actually excited about this.**

**Me too.**

The bell above the door rang and Tsukishima looked up. Kuroo had his back to him as he shouldered open the door and he quickly set his phone down and tried to appear nonchalant over his cake. The lovely smell of juniper washed over the café and the blond immediately felt more at ease. Kei watched out of the corner of his eye as his scent must’ve registered with Kuroo too and he whipped around to look his table.

“Tsukishima,” he greeted breathlessly.

“Hello.”

“I knew I should’ve gone home and showered first. I just finished with practice.”

“I don’t really mind.” Tsukishima zeroed in on his cake again and took another bite.

“The first time you text me since I gave you my number and you show up here in Tokyo.”

“I thought it would be easier seeing you in person, than talking over text.”

Kuroo sat down in the chair opposite him and gave him a blinding smile. “Well, I’m certainly not going to turn you away. How’d you get down here?”

“My brother bought me a train ticket.”

“You have a brother?” His mind drifted back to the conversation with Tanaka, Daichi, and Asahi during the training camp.

“Yeah.”

“How’d you know to come down today?”

“Akaashi-san.”

“Damn, he’s a good liar. I thought it was weird that he wanted our schedule to see about extra practices when our schools are clear across the prefecture.” Kuroo watched Tsukishima finish off his cake before he spoke again. “What were your plans for today?”

“I didn’t have much past café.”

“When are you heading back to Miyagi?”

“Tomorrow, I have a place to stay.” Tsukishima quickly covered. If Kuroo offered his house, Kei wouldn’t be able to cope. The alpha’s obvious excitement at his appearance and his smell with only the two of them together was having an effect on him.

“Sure, sure.” Tetsurō leaned back in his chair. “Do you want to go see a movie?”

“What ones are playing right now?”

“Don’t know—I’m sure there’s some sort of a Disney film though. Or we can see something with more action.”

“Are you a Disney fan?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow and one of his deprecating smirks slid onto his face.

“Who isn’t? It’s not like they only make animated features.”

Tsukishima hummed and finished off the last of his cake and tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now I bid adieu to "Fuck You".


End file.
